Talking About Leaving
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king About Leaving Why Undergraduates Leave the Sciences
Elaine Seymour and Nancy M. Hewitt
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Contents
Background to the Sbdy far Attfition among S.M.E. Majors R Study ivw Method of Inquiry Additional Dab and Validity a w k s M e b d of Ethogmpfiie Data h a f y s i s Overview of Findings The Lsss of Able Students from S.M.E. Majors Differenw Bewmn hstitutians in Student Coneem and s for SwiLGhing Cliffem- EleWwn Studenb E n t e h g Enginwring h d n o s e E n t e ~ gSeieace or Mathemtics Notes
2 Entering S.M,E. MGors: Choice and heparation Ghmsing S.M.E. Majors and Carwrs The Active hfluence of Others f n t ~ s i Interat e Altruism The Urriafomd Choiee Tm Little or T m Mueh Choice Mate~alismmd Pragmtism s for Chmsing S.M,E, Majors Gender Differenem in s for Choosing S,M,IE. Majors: Si~ificmcefor Persisbnce High Sehwl Preparation Failure to L a m Good Study Skills and Habits Notes
vi
Conf enfs
The 'Hardnmskof Seicsnce Nat-ure of ConmpU1 DifficuIties PrabXem of &heuIum Pam and W r k b a d Other Persptives on the "ardnwbof S,M. ]E. Majors T'he S i e i f i m c e of G d e s m@C~mptitive&1hre The W&-Out Trditioai The Unmpprtive Culture Twhing and h ~ n g Problem with Faculty Pdagogy Experiences with Tmhing Assism& h g w g e Problem with Taching Assismts Sbdents' Suggmtions for tbe Improvement of S.M. E. P d g o g y ing for Undergradlmte Ta~birxg The Stmeture and Content of a Well-Taught Class The Good Tacher Collaborative h m i n g Lass of Intermt md the A p p l of Other Majors Notes
4 Gtar~rand Lifatylie, T h e and Money Consideratioas of a r w r md Lifestyle M a t Shdenb are Rejeetbg Shift to a More Apmting Non-S.M.E. Carwr %$ion m a t ; Sbdents are h k f n g For Wanting to Become a Twctzer "l%e Profit-toerief Ratio FinmciaE Problem md their Canmuencm Problem with the hngth of S.M.E. M~jors Ptaying the System The Choice of Cradwte: School Conclusions Notes
Explaining Women's Under-Padicipation in the Sciences: P u d e s a d Clues Gender, Student Concerns and Switching Decisions Difkrential Impxt of the W&-But Sysbm
Differences in Evaluatian of the h m i n g Experience Gender Differeaca in Qther Sfudent Concerns The Expeiences of Women in S.M.E. Majors "b'e bgacy of Pre-College Swialimtion Negative Expfienees with S. M.E. Faculty Negative Attimdes md Behavior of Male Pwrs Explaining M a t Women Experience in S. M.E, Majors M a t Women Seek act May Not Find in S.M.E. Ma;jors The Role of the Tmditional S.M,E. System in the b s s of Able Women; A Su Fwting @hat ""X's Okay to h v e " me Ghost of D a w h Versus the Penxinist Critique The Prospeet of a Dual Carer: Work and Faxnlly M a t Hefps Women Persist in S, M.E. Majors Individual Coping Skiils Banding to Other W a m n in S.M.E. Majors FwuXty Women armd Other Role Models and Mentors Crwting a CsmfczP.t-ableClimte for Women in 3,M.E. Majors b r g e r Issues and Unmswerd Questions Notes
6 h u m of Ram and Ethnicity Campariwns of Studentf af Golor with M i t e Students Inappropriate Choiee fnadqmte High School Preparation Under-Prepiird md Qver-Con fident Problem Unique to Studenb of Color Patterns of Socialization and E t h i e Cultural Values Cultural Vaniations in Educational Smialimtion Ethnic Cuf turiil Values Obligation to Serve Co Obligation to be a Role M d e f Conflict Bemwn Academjc and F a ~y lResponsibi Xities Ecfu=tisnal Goats Definecf by Parents Cultural Restrain&on. Setf-Assertiveness Self-Relimee md Autonomy CufhEral Vrariations in Peer Croup Success Norm hbmalimtion af Negative Skrmtypczs and its Conquenws Degrm of Ethnic Isoiatian and Perceptions of Prejudice Minority Croup Enrollment Levels and Perceptions of Racism
"Minority Programs* Academic Assistance Advising and Counseling ProOrientation Programs Retention Programs Conclusions 7 Some Conclusions and Their Implicatiorrs
Notes A p m r i A: F & r m Appendix B: Topics E x p l o d in Interviews and Fonu -ups
Bibliography Name Ind4x Subject Index A b u t the Book and Authors
TmLE 1.1 r e d or by 1991 for 810,79tl U a d a g d m W h&ndtd Nationd SmpIe of Four-Year Instibtions in 1987 . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 TABLE 1,2 Final Major m a i m by 1991 of 148,m Undwgraduab Switchem r in Entering S.M.E. Majors in a National Sample of F o u ~ Y e a Inz;titutions 1987 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X8 T N L E 1.3 Pemmt of Men and of Womn W o PersisCed h and Swikhd from Dwlmd or Intended Majors by 1991, for 810,794 Undergtadwtes 21 who E n b g 4 a National Sample of Four-Ymr hstitutians in 1987
.
TMLB f .4 Qf &am who PersisM in and S d k h d from DwXard or hbnded Majom by 1991, Percent who wme Men mh Permnt who were Women among 1210,794 Undergmdum wha Errbrd a Nationd Sample of FourY a r hti(utiocls in l987
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
TABLE 1 .5 Final Major a o i w by 1993 af 142,890 Male md Femle Undergdwb S ~ k h e m Enbing S.M.E. MrZjors in a National Sample of Four-Var hgtitutions h 1987 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
."
TmLE l ,6 "'The Problem Faetam ContPib~tingto All S w i k ~ n g Dwisions, md ta the Coneems of Swikhem, of Non-Switefiers a d of Aff. Skdenh(]Ei3=335) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
TmLE l ."7mp&rative R d i n g by Students at Seven lrastittItions o;F: Conams Contributing ta Switching; h n w m s hid by Switchers Overail; a n e e m s hid by Non-Switchem; and Concerns of Students @era11 42 Majam. " Factor-s Contributing TMLE l.S "The Pr&lem I m b g : En@n to Swikhing Daisions of Fomer Engtaeering Majors, A11 6onwms of Enginefin8 Switchem, of Non-Swikhers md of A11 Shderrts . . . . . 46
Tables
X
TmLE 1.9 "The Problem Icebrg: Scienw and Mathemtics Majors. " '=tors Contributing to S w i k b g Dwisions of Fomer Scienw rurd Mathemtics Majam, AJX Conwms sf Scienw md Mathemtics Swikhers, of NonSwitchem and of AXI Shrdents 47
........................
Given for a o i w of Origiaial Major by 335 Current a d hrla&emtics or E n g i a m ~ g"Undergradwtes on Seven (1990-1992) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 s Given for Chaiee of Qrigislal Major by 335 Cument md Fomer Science, Mathemties or Enginmhcing Tlndergradwtes orx Seven Campusers (15290-1992), by Gender . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
T m L E 5.1 "The Problem fcebrg: Femfe Sadenb. Fwtsrs antributing to Switching Decisions of Femle Sbdents, AI1 Caneerns of Femte Swikhen, of Non-Swikhers and of All Femle Sbdents . . . . . . . 232 T m L E 5.2 "The Problem fcebrg; Male Shdents. " Factors Corttdbuting to S w i k b g I)~?~isians of Mate Students, All Gnwms of Male Switebers, of Non-Swikhers md of AII Mate Sbdents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
TmLB 6.1 a m p a ~ s o nof . mite md Non-mite Switchers in. the 10 Most HigMy R d d Factors Contributing to Switching Decisions . . , . . 323 TABLH 6.2 Comparison by RaciailEChic Croup of CuIbrai Valum Expressed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338
TABLE 6.3 Percentage of Enrollment by Race/Ethicity at Seven Institutions (1993-1993)
..................................
369
Figures e Emol1ment at 3,100 U.S. hstlations of Higher FIGUm 6 ,l Avemge Eduatian by R w and 1 E ~ c i t y . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369 FIGUm A. 1 Discipfines fneluded in Each Croup of Majors in the C.I.R.P. Daa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398 F I G U m A.2 Profile of Switchers and Non-Swilcbers by Discipline
..
399
FIGmIE A.3 Profile of Switehers and Non-Switchers by Discipline, Sex and RacelEhicity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399
Acknowledgments The authors wish to acknowledge the genefinancial support for this project by the A I M P. S l w Foundation. We also thank the Sloan Foundation staff, and particularly Dr. Hirsb Cohen for his encouragement, suggestions, and critique of the work in program. We thank the seven institutions who took part in the study, particularly the deans, faculty, and administrative staff of the science and mathematics departments and colleges of engineering who hosted our research activities, and the institutional records staff who provided the student samples. We also thank those faculty who invited us to discuss the study and gave us the opportunity to validate our findings with students in a wider array of institutions. We thank the many colleagues with whom we have discussed our work for their suggestions and critical review. Among these, we especially thank Dr. Anne Lanier of the National Science Foundation who first suggested we undertake this Angela B. Ginorio study and who has followed its progress throughout; and h. (Dimtor, North West Center for Research on Women, the University of Washington), and J. Rolf Kjolmtb (Department of Sociology, the University of Colorado) for their careful review of the manuscript and good editorial suggestions. We thank our transcribers, Linda Thornton and Emily Miller, for their accuratu reproduction of the interviews, and the members of our research team, especially Anne-Barrie Hunter and Lois Dahnke, for their fidelity in processing and managing the data, and for their critical contributions throughout the project. Turning our original (1994) report of some SS0 pages into a more compact volume, without losing the complex and subtle nature of our participants' observations, has been a considerable challenge. If we have succeeded, it is largely due to Ame-Barrie Hunter's fine editorial and publication skills and her respect for the integrity of the text data. We also thank our other research team members, especially Jill Schwaninger and Liane Pedersen-Gallegos, who ensured that other projects continued uninterrupted at times when preparation of the book claimed our attention. We thank our indexer, Maureen Connors for her bumor and patience as well as for her good work. To the 460 students who took part in the study, we offer our warmest thanks for their generosity and candor in discussing their experiences. We offered them nothing in return except the promise to tell their stories as faithfully as we knew how. We hope they will be pleased with the outcome.
Overview Baebraund to the Study Wenever traditioad p r d i ~ eare s called into question and new practices are prapsed, it is always worth =king, M y at this tine? Who m k s thew chmgw? W o resists them? and, By what rhebric do they supprt their pitims? m e nour study began in the spring of 1990,wncem that there might be s o q e t b g knhmenhlty wrong with seience md mthemtics education wm g to ba expressed, In 1995, at the time this book was in prepamtion, a national movement was already andeway to improve the quality of, and participation in, scienw and mthemtics ducation from kinderga~en tie gradwb s h w 1 , As we shJf illustrate, the debate which prompt4 this movemeat had a numbr of saurms and dimenliions, not afI of which were aade&e, md the nabre of the argument c h m g d over time. issues were do&nmt at: the outset: seien~eand =themties ducation was failing to foster science; literay in the ppulation; t w few undergraduahs and graduates were rspuited md rebb& to mmt the nation's s h r e n d s ; and the seiences rwnritd too exelusively among white malw-thereby depriving the nation of the talents of women of all mes md ethicities, md of men of colar, From the mid-1980s, the Higher Education Research Institute (H.E.R.I.) at U,@.L.A. drew attention to a define in the percentage of f r e s h e n chwsing to enter a d r e m h in -themtics md science-basd ma~ors(Astin, 1985; Astin et al., 1985, 1987; Dey, Astin & Korn, f 991; Astin & Asthin,1993). m e i r an langibdinal suweys of large national samples of freshmen at two- and four-yar institutions. In a mries of aPticIes based an Gooprative Instilutional Rewrch Program (C.1,R.P.) data,t C r m (/989a, 1989b) d e s ~ W a Wenty-yar decline in fresh interest in, undergrduatr;?. science m ~ a r s(from 11.S R in 1966 to 5.8 5% k 1988), with an. abmpt drop from 1983. The largest podion of this dmline W= evident in mthemties (from 4.6 96 "o 0.6 5%) and the physical sciences (3.3 % "0 f .S $6). BeWwn 1966 and
2
Overview
interest in mthemties fell by four-fifths. The shavest, most rwent decline in enrollment m u m & in engineering a d computer science (from 12,0%in 1982 to 8.6% in 1988). The AtMre for a11 of these disciplinesappear& to be h@heru n d e ~ n e dby: a deiclbe h the proportion of sbdenb choosing careers in gienee and =themtics taching (from approximtely 22% of freslzmn in 1966 to approximtely 9 96 in 1988); a, shiA bward the preparation of science and mthemtics tmchrers through ducation, rather than via disciplimxy, mjors; md a growing disinclination among young women to ehaose a e a r e r in high schwl -&emtics tmching, Crmn refers; to this as the loss of a "captive population" of women who, historically, had bwn "a key resource in the pool of ptential science instmetors, as well as key role models for women" (1 989b, p. 37). The Amehcan Freshmm surveys, and (by 199f), U.S. Census data, cXar;ified that patential gradmbs in science, mathematics and enginwring (3,M.E.) were: lost in the trmsition from high school to college by undergraduate switching into non-S.M.E. majors, and by d ~ l i n i n genrollrnent in advanced S. M.E. degrw. Calleetivefy,t h w losses began to be refend to as ""lkage" from the S.M,E, ""ppeiine," In their X993 C.II,R.P, r e p & , Astin and Astin indieat4 that betwmn freshmn and senior years, S.M.E. mjors suffer& a relative shrdent loss mte of 40 permnt, Losses ranged from 50 percent in the biological sciences md 40 percent in enginw~ngto 20 p r w n t in the physical sciences and mathematics (when the transfer of fomer enginm~ngmjors into these diseipfines is &ken into account), T h e n as carmrs, h t h engineering and the health professions lost over half af their entrmts (53% m d 51% respectively), The National Science Foundation (N. S. F.), tbe National Academy of Scienew, m$ the Office of T e e h o l o ~ ~Assessment y (0.T.A.) wert; among the first public bodies to debate tbe extent and cause of problem in science education and to promote discussion of ameliorative action. A 1987 National Aedemy of Scienws discusion paper mncEudes: There is still movement into the mathematics, science and engineering ( M . S . E . ) pipeline during the ealfegc years. However, at each shge, the net effmt of the movement in and out of the pool is loss, "The cumulative impact of these losses is subs~antiat,Over 50 percent of the high school seniors survey& droppd out of the M.S.E. pipeline by the end of their first year in college, Some returned later an, However, by college graduation, only 35 percent of the high school seniors who pltznnd on M.S.E. majors had slay4 with their plans, This suggests that, during the college years, morc attention should be paid to preventing migrattion out of science (P. 29). 77ze Report ofthe Task firce on the E~gineeringStude~tPbeline (Enginmring Dmns' Council, 1988) alsa estimated the rates of loss to other mjors, and from school altogether, as varying b W w n 30 percent and 70 percent in four-year
Overview
3
enginmhg sehools whem d m s and faculty gathered the data). m e y diwvered that few engitlwhg schools mintained longitudinal r u t e ~ i o ndata h which. the persistence of frmhmen cohorts was tmckd. This pattern of loss wtts also document& in a serim of coflabmive sLrtdiw by the N,S.F. and US.Department of Edueatim (ef., M.S.F., 2990a), md in the work of Hilton and h (1988). The gratmt losses festt'maled at helwwn 34% and 40%) were found among high school p d u a t e s wfro abmdaned their inbntions of entefing an S.M.E. m j o r at ar befofe college tmrollment. During college, the highat risk af S.M.E. s w i t c b g (a fudher 351) oceumd in the o m m y a r , arrd included those who mm& into college altogether. Hilton rrnd Lee reported the r ya r s rts two percenhge points (from 7.5 96 to 5.4%). From the start of junior ywr to graduation, the attrition rate dwindfed to 0.8 permnt. Very few sadents trmsfend into S,M .E. majors afier college emotlment, and there wm always a net lass, 7%- estimtes were, thought likely y institutions do not rquire fb to be conservative as mjor until the end of sophornore year when the primry period of risk is alrady past. As to gender differences in, loss= fram the seimces, Strenta a d his mlleapes (1993) repodd the: prsistence mbs of men in. S.M.E. mjors vaI.ied bewwn 61 pezent for higMy selwtive instiwtiom to 39 percent far national samples, while the comparative rat= for women rmged betwmn 46 percent and 30 percent. Astin & Astin (1993) obsenrd that absolute losses were greater among men, but, because the proportionate loss of women was grmter, their under-representatim i n c r w d dufing undergraduate S.M.E. education. In the same repoft, they document& high loss rates among that smaller proportion of S.M.E. exttrmts who are Hispmic, Mack, or native American, Only one-third, of Hispmics, one-half of blacks, and one-half of native Axnerxcms who enrolfeii in S.M.E. m j a r s graduatd in them. Some a c a d e ~ cco &tom also exprmsd mncem that S.M.E. losses came from a pool of dispropflionately able undergradwtes [Crmn, 198$aa, 1989b; M i t e s 1992). Grmn obmwes that in 1988, 45.3 perwnt of college entrants intending to earoff in, S,M,E, m ~ o r had s final high school G,P.A.s of A or A- cornpar& with 215.3 prcent far swdents plaming non-S,M, E. m4ars.z 'This finding is underscord by the N,S.F,'s (lW90a) report that, of high school graduata e n t e ~ n gfour-yar institutionswith A or A-/B -t- grades and at least f O sem~stersof math and science, a consistently higher proprtion t;?nter& S,M,E, mjars than entered non-S.M. E, majors. Approximtely 20 percent of the same well-prepare$, high-ability group entered lower-level colleges* and another 20 ercent did not enrofl in any type of college. Able swdents were last both iately before S.M.E. enrallment and at some paint over freshmn and re: yars. Crmn (1989b) su rims his concerns thus:
4
Overview
Not only do the sciences have the highest defwtian rates of any undergraduate major, t h q also b v e the lowest raM of rwmitment from any other major. In shod, science cfqafirnents lose a huge proporlion of their potential cEenls--the acsdemiealty-able and hteUwtuaEy-motivatedstudents who eater coIXege with a genuhe: htemst in studying scienee @. 478).
studenb also szttmeted slam (cf., AtEnmn, 19W; Hilton & Lee, 1988; Masmy, 1989; O.T.A., 1989; Pool, 1990; N.S.F., 19Wa). Hilton and h (1988) descf.iM the f ~ l u r of e able S.M,lEi. undergraduab to mntinue into gmdwte grwtmt murw of loss from the pipelhe.3 The 2989 Q.T.A. report blamd shpation in the a c d e ~ job c mrket and obsewd, " C d u a t e earollments have b n sustab& largely by foreip sMents who have helped to campnwte for the dwline in enrollmenk by U.S. citimns" (p. 9). The 1992 dition of National Science; hdieators (N,S.F,, 19938) also r e p o ~ d that beWwn 197t md 1991 the number of science and mthematics doctorates award& to non-U.S. citixns rose f 35 prcent (170 percent in enginefing), in while those award& to U,S, citimm fell by 10 prcent ( enginw~arxg),A National Academy of Sciences analysis of the biof Doctmf Recipients (cf., b3,S.X;"., 1990sz) e s t i m t d that in f 988, foreign sbdents acwuntd for mare than 28 percexlt of Pb.D.s in science, mthemtics and e n g i n w ~ g . Ity w a discusshg the implications of these le the a c a d e ~ ccta shrdies, public debate a b u t the state of science a d m&emtics education t i o ~of a different but relaM kind; namely, international studies compahg school ehildrenk achievements. The 1988 r e p r t of the Internationath m i a t i o n for the Evduation of Educational Achievement r-ivd padicular m d i a attention. la comparing the achievements of U.S, children and those of 17 other countfies, it found only werage levels of competence in =themtics and seienee for 10 yar-olds, which, by age 14, dropped to 14th glace, and to the lowest s by the end of high school. n i s wnczern has rmently been moderated, but not msmged, by re-evaluation of national and t consequencle of &e public debate generstd by this W y of work has been an effort, spearheaded by the National Rmarch a u n e i l , to establish teaching and assssment shndards for K-12 mthemtics and wience ducation (cf., N,R, C,, 1993). However, these smdards are not (unlike those y other eotmtries) Evidmce sf dmli&ng scientific litermy in the population, and of rdueed numbers of S.M.E. grduates available for ceseateh, devetapmex1t, or teaching, has also generated expressions of conmm that America's; international competitiveness in the science and techofogy-dependent sectors of the U.S. t=~~n~ would m y be u n d e ~ n e das a conswuence of these trends:
Pmm a ktroltder p r s p t i v e , the* is a growhg concern over our countq's hture sb%ty to corn* in the @obtil m r k d (hnutEs & Je&ns, 1988, p. 5). The IJ.S., two deePrdes ago, I d ib csconornic comp&itors in the number o f seimtisls a d enginmm it pmdueed relative to its population. But, today, Japan-with half the U.S. popugatisn-prusduws more enghwrs than the U ,S, (N.A.S.U.L.G.G., f989, p. 36).
&pnnen@ of this nabre gave strong imptus to initial effbtts to revitailize science edumtim, dtfiough they have more reee~tlybeen mHed inta question, As Comory and Cohen have (1993) tim, and the wuntfia that have mast good design, p d u c t i o n tshiques, and mrkating thm on htemationaf IeademGp in a e a c i e ~ cscienm. Meve&heXt=ss, expressions of wonornic nationalism, and mieties h u t the nation" prosperity in the fast-approaching secand mil'ie&urn ence eduation; refom efhfts for some time to came. bwn
, w ~ r E n ggroups-vonij'ar& by the N. S.F.., the National Academy of Sciences, S i g m Xi, the Nation& Association of S h e Universitiies and Land Grmt ColXega (N. A. S.U.L.C. G.), md the h e ~ h m w i a t i o n for the Advmcernent of Scienw (A.A,A.S), a d others-begm to wjfatively brainstom the muses and eomqaenees of law h t e r a t in, and high attrition from, -themtics a d sienee at d l ediuc~tionalfevels. The most bfluential of the= inelude the ' N a i Regod' (N.S. F., 19861, the R w & of the Diseiplinau Workshops on Underg d w & Mucation (N. S.F., 1988), rraad the S i g m Xi "Wingsprad Conference" of the National Advisory Croup (1989), Each represea& the eolle~tivewidom md expe~enceof ~ g h e dumtion r ad~nistratorsand dwators, officers of gavemment. The Neat Rep&p i n t & to flaws in the undergradwte experience: lab instmetion, at worst, ww said to be "uninspired, tedious and duElTP;lab f~ilitim and btruments wem d w d M as l i ~ t & and "obsolete"; mcfiing was inadqwte md p o r l y o r g m i d and reflmtd little: howiecfge of m d e m LX" taching mthods; t m c b g mtehals were out of date, md C U ~ ~ U ~ L-tent failed to mwt s b d e ~ t sv' a ~ and d emergent a r w r rids. The r q o r t mgmented its a c ~ o w tby types of institution, disciplines, and ta same degrw, by the s p i a l difficulties of under-reprmentd groups. It also not& a dwline in the n u m b of S.M.E, g r d m t e students c h m s i ~ g~ a d e i carwrs, e anid thus a growing shomge of enginm~ngfaculty since 1976 and of mthemtics fxulty shee f 98X. Surveybg the condition of undergradmte S.M. E, ecSuation overal, it warn4 that, @ail sectgrs of mdergradmte &cation. in mathemtics, exxginwfing, md the seience;s are inderquateXy nsive to either its woraning condition, or to the nationaX n d for r~vitalimtionmd improvement" "(NF., 1986, p. 3).
6
Overview
The M.S.F. workhops on undergraduate education (1988) were divided by disciplines, asld faculty identified problem e on across S.M .E. undergmduate education, md speeific to their sw disci .They GghlighM the secondclass sbhs of tmching campar4 to most i m p m t tlling N. S,F, do for seienw dumtion is to rmtige m d rqeckbility of b g " (Physics Workshop, p. t& to, uinadqwte prestmctian,. ..detehorathgbtmctionaI fwifitim, a d lack of funding for efh- kvotvbg students" (Cm-science Workshop, p, 3). The ry Workshop spaifieaflyidentified "widesprmd, Euxldamental and longsmding prsbXem in lab hstmetion in c h e d s t ~ y[as having] the gratest e R s t on retention of students.. .in the first two years of the undergraduate curriculum" (Cbe~strylWorkshop, p. S ) . The National Advisory Group of Sigm Xi (1989) f o e u d on problem with the physical md pedagogical conkxt of undergraduate X a ~ n g ,insufficient a~ounhbilitymd flexibility in currlcufa, and the unmet n d s of traditionally under-represenM groups. b s m s from S.M.E. mjors were thought to reflmt a poor balmce faculty remrch md tmhing, large classas, inadquate aeitdernic and emotional supprt for s&den(s, They were also a consquence af wing entry-fevd c a a w s as a gab-kqinrg mwbanism, " dvmced courses from d l except the most able, and the most iv). h i m p m t new note W=, we fwl, stmek: @XR addressing some of their conco&at ism=, it became evident that attitudw and perceptions are, in th es, signif cant topics" The approach highlightit elements X&ely to have bafing on the causs of S.M.H. attrition. However, without systemtie investigation we could not b o w whether 41 of the pertinent issues had been r a i d , or which dements matterd more than others, Furthemare, wen at the S i g m Xi mwtings-where it ww r s a e i d that, "students"gerceptions of the undergraduate c u ~ c u I u min scimce, mthematics and enginmring, and the faculty perceptio= of the =me cukeuturrr, are by no m m s congment" (p. iv)-the prceptions of students were not solicitd. The O.T.A. reports (1988, 1989) addrwseb attfition by comparing studies sf S. M,E, baceafaur~teproductivity in higher education instihtions of diffrt;rent typs, n e y dwumentd the better record of liberal arts and histo~cretlyblack colleges md of twhieal institutions, compard with state and resmrefi universities, They cittxf the mtf-study program of the 50 privab liberal arts colleges in the 'Oberlin Croupbhich identirFy the featurm of undergraduate ducation found to work in favor of higher S.M.E. completion raks: higher sef ectivity in enrollment, lower faculty-sadent ratios, and higher facuf ty-student interaction (monitoring, dvising, c~unseling,md student involvement in faculty research). Replication af these conditions ww a r p d to rduce the risk of attrition, Poder (1990) also found higher eonnpIetion rates in those colleges with smller classes, e d m d contact with facully , and grater enrol1ment
Overview
Z
selectivity. b o w i n g 'what works' in smaller, privileged, and highly selective settings does not nwssarily constitute a test of what causes or cures attn'tion in other contexts, nor do@ it tell us what else oJJght work, Nevmtheless, the greater success of small liberal arts colleges in recruiting, and retaining, science and mathemtics mjors (hcluding women md shdents of color) has promptctid some larger institutions to consider their methods. It has also encouraged groups of smlXer hstitutions ta build on their success by promotiag what they perceive as the best ways to p r e s ~ tscience and ntsthemties to undergradwtes. The longest-eslablishd, and m s t w i d e - r m g e of the= endmvoru is t b t of the Independent Colleges Office 'Project Kaleidoscope" (1991, 1992, 1995). y repaxtx, shrdies and c0 h overarcEng concern refleew in ies in the late t 980s w s that, by the end of tfie century, the nation would face a shortfall in tbe supply of qurrlified seientifrc and teehicat personnel at all levels (cf., N. S.F., 1990ti, 1990e; Atkinson, It 990;Pool, 1990; N. A. S. U. L. C.G., 1989). Although this f a r subquently proved unjustified, and is incraingly being replaced by the caneern that graduates from particular disciflines, e s p i s l l y pbysics, arc: actually k i n g underemployment and unemployment, it neve&heless played m i m p ~ nearly t role in promoting the refom of science education. Tobias (1990, 199%), Weylin f1987), and others have pointd to the significmce of m o t h ~wide~rmdl r belief in shaping the way that rwmitment and retentictn issues have b e n iiddrased-that the abiEity ta undersmd mathematics axld science is lirnitedt ta a rdatively s m l l propnion of the popultatio~: Chemistry, and much of the rest of science in this country, has been working for far too long under an ixnpli~itassumption that scientific competence is disproprt-ionately coneeatrat& in that roughly 40 percent of the yxspulalion represented by white males (Weylin, 1987,p. 3).
n i s wsumption hoEsters a relatd blief-that some, even most, switching from, S.M. E. mjors is bppropl"iatetor 'no E' (cf., N. %F., 1990a). S.M .E. faculty expect same fallout (even at a fairly subsmtial rate becaus those presurntsd to lack suficient nilturrzl ability to wntinue are thought to discover their l i ~ t a t i o n s , mdlor their true vocation for some other discipline, and Imve. By this p r s p t i v e , the hnction of the traditional 'W&-autbsystem is to assist this prwess. M e r e S.M.E. attrition is regard& as largely inevibble or appropriate, rwmitment rather thm retention is ~n as the appropriate way to address pipeline concerns. The perceived shortfall crisis, therefore, pram"& a smrch for =themtics md science talent in populatians which h&, hitherto, rweived less attention, namely, women, shtdents of cotor md students with disabilities. l~terestin non-traditional groups as a source of S.M.E. enrollment also coincided with. growhg concern ( e x p r m d by resarchers, duc;ators, and the professionrtl and a c a d e ~ casmiations of women md ~ n o r i t ygroups) that women, sbdents of eolor and sbdents with disabilities were under-represent4
'
among S.M.E. undqmduates and graduate students, k u l t y and administrators for reasons other than ability. (The debate about why this has occurred, and the briefly below, and in more detail in research which informs it, are disc& Chapters 5 and 6.) The movement to increase the participation and retention rates of under-represented p u p s has yielded disappointing results despite considerable outlays of money and effbrt.4 This can be explained, we suggest, by unresolved contradictions in its focus and strategy. If programs addressing under-represemtation are primarily shaped by a search for undiscovered talent, while the structural and cultural barriers to enrollment and persistence among under-qmsmted groups remain obscure or unaddressed, such programs cannot succeed.
Reasons for Attdtion among S.M. E. M@OB Prior to 1990, there was no body of work that had explored the range of f'actors contributing to attrition among both male and female undergraduates, different racial or ethnic groups, and different S.M.E. majors. Theories of attrition based on research tended to be limited in scope. Studies focused on particular groups (often women), were offered as by-products of m r c h into other issues, addressed one possible cause of attrition (e.g., inadequate high school preparation), or used one kind of theoretical approach (e.g., institutional data analysis, or psychological theories of motivation). Some of the commonest observations on S.M.E. attrition had no basis in research at all. For example, several national reports speculated that increases in the numbers of foreign teaching assistants and faculty were a likely source of impediments to the progress of women in S.M.E. majors. Among these, Vetter writes: A growing problem for American students is the language banier between them and many of their foreign teaching assistants and faculty. While this is a problem for both sexes, foreign teachers are said to provide an additional handicap for women...The retention rate for women in engineering, from freshman year to bachelor's degree, has dropped drastically.. .It may reflect some of the student-faculty problems for women who must work with foreign men in what the latter may perceive as a submissive role (1988, p. 737).
Although the validity of this supposition had never been tested, its r e i t i o n allowed attention to be diverted from the experience of female S.M.E. students with American-born faculty and peers. Concentration on what were, perhaps, peripheral difficulties, in effect, circumvented inquiry into the significance for attrition of mainstream cultural practices. The only national data on the causes of S.M.E. attrition are those derived from the National Longitudinal Survey and the 'High School and Beyond' surveys conducted by the Department of Education.5 Students were found to switch out of S.M.E. majors into other majors for two main reasons: 43 percent said that they found non-S.M.E. majors more attractive(a finding similar to that of the University of Michigan study [Manis et al., 19891 discussed later in this
section), aod 31 percent stated that they found the work 'too difticult'. Unfommtely, these findings raise more questions than they answer, including by the 'hhardnmkf scienw, h e m t i c s and mg Nor da we learn what demerits of shdcsnh' exprienws ia S.M.E. warms were so umtisfaetov that otber disciplines s m m d m r e a p p l i a g . Faculty opinion surveys were also B source of athition theories. A Camegie (1989) survey of 5,500 faculty in all disciplines reported that nearly rs af Faculty thought underg&ua@ were seriously under-prepas& and swdy skills. The a s u m y of this prmptim, and the role Howevm, work played by ader-pqamtion in S,MeE. attrition, W mong women &t by Strmh arrd his colfeawa (1993) on the c a u w highly prestigious institutions called into question the significance of preadrnission mmures af "developed abilities" wmpared with women" dverse ractions to negative pedagogical and p r group exprienees in their first WO ymm. The only studies of attAtisn grounded in actual sbdmt expritfow were tfios W&& explored the problems of women in science and en@nmhg mjors. Studies of femle S.M.E. graduate swdeab r e p ~ psychological d alienation, md lowered self-es-m as eo r w p n w ta their graduab shoo1 exprimcm and as sipificant factors in their decisions to leave. The Illinois VaXdietohm Projwt (cf., Widmlf , 1988) which f'allowd the college progress of 80 Kgh shaol m ~ o r af s b_igh ability faxlrh mEe and femle) also repo&d a si&f?cmt loss by sophornre ymr of previously high self-estwm among women, md a fowekg of wrwr ambitions d q i t e high perfomanw levels. %er the =me period, the self-mtmm and c a m r spiratians of their male peers ram. Some elum to undemmding this phenomenon arose from the findings af a wAm of shdies ~ n s o r by d the h e f i e m h w i a t i o n of Colleges (Hall & Smdler, 1982, 1984, 1986). Hall and Smdler deseriW the experiences of women studezlb, faculty, md a d ~ n i s t w o r in s tEe sciences as "chilEing." "ey dwumenteid the rudeness of mate peers e x p ~ e n e dan a daify bmis, and the role of mdergmduate instmctors in mintslining classroom inqualities, both by diattention md by ove& discrirxllination. W e r e fmulty mnveyec3 mmsages of lawer a p t a t i o n s for women, women of high ability w e r ~prompt4 to lower their a e d e k c and earwr ambitions and to under-achieve. Stzrdies of persistenw among sbdents of cofor in, aEt =jars a l e d d resarchers to mother faetor in dtrition-the negative c"onsquenees for (1"390), Wilmn (19901, md Peer (1990), disussed negative conquencm for shdents of calar of r&uctioas in the level of public support available to all smdents. Moh prdicted that almost one-third of low-incame sbdents of all m i d md ethic: groups would drop out af shoo1 complefbly if public grmts were to bt: eliminated. Wilson 1Faund students took longer to c~mple?tetheir bacalaurates, or dropped out, partly bwause they
could not mmt their college luitian and every&y living expenses. W i l e students s which had not b n of color had the lowest college completion mtm far rrd among students explard or explaixled, the very highest drop-out rat of all races and etweities who did not rweive grmb, Rotbrg repsr-ted debt burdens to have greawt impact on the college a t t e n b e e rates of shdents of mfor beeause both their f a ~ l yresources and their e x p s t d future amings h n d d to be lower, W e r w p t s of shdent hmciiil problem with b r i n g for attfition were: the i x l e r ~ i n gcost of higher ducation at a time of inflation; a decliae in the real value of sadant aid ais a peaenhpe of &ition costs; m d the cration of a debt burden for half of all grdmtt=s by st shi& in. emphmis from grmts to lams, Porter found that four-ymr degree programs were no longer a viable option for most undergmdwtes. Mast undergraduates who left college did y a r : those with federal grants showed siml"f"tant1y more persisknee beyond the first y a r thm those without them, He also hund finmcial problem were mpecially acute for sbdents of color, and the min. cause for high college drap+ut rates among Hispmics and blacks at four-yar hstibtions was b r d d o w of their attempts to carry full course loads while warking to mmt tuition and living expenses. Several different approaches are discernable in those few smdies wkch have directly swght cagons for S. M, E, attrition. The development sf prdietive m d e l s by which to identify those studenb who are most likely to persist is exemplified by the work of k v i n and Wyckoff (1988) among enginwring studenb, Abifity in mthemtics was found to be the best single prdictor of e n g i n m ~ gsucmss (bettx=rthan S. A.T., college or high schml G ,P. A. scores), follow4 by choice of m S,M ,E. m j o r on the basis of interest in the subjwt. m q b mdels ptdicring individwl w e e s s in S,M .E, classes are useh1 for development of bett-er serwning procdures, they are l i ~ t as d ways ta expIain att~tionratm wkch are disproprtionatefy high among particular groups. Silbemm (1981) and Cader and Bricklhouse: (1989) explord the Ieaming problem of S.M.E. students by comparing the beliefs of fa~ultyand studmts about the nahre of science. They reframd the attrition issue as: m a t m&es a sub~ectso 'difficult' that s o w stwdftnts drop out or fail? :In a study of 1,200 students M n g Chemistry 116 at Purdue University, they found &at the Udifficuity' of the class was very differently perceivd by the students who took it, and by the faculty who bught it, Faculty took a more d e t e ~ n i & view of shtdt-tnts' ehmces of mstering the mateFiaI: they believed the s u b j ~ material t was iahermtIy hard, and e x p t d a cer&in proprtion of the students in mhod to be unable to 'get it", They conceded, however, that hard material might be mastered with sufficient background knowledge, interest and effort. Students did not a~ceptthe "inkerently difficulthiew of the material. They minbinenf a 4ddemaeratic~t.bmryof ducation, believing it; should be possible to tach so as to c l a ~ Qthe c-onrpl~xitiesof cheknistry for students who were adquably prepard: such studenb should be able to ' s c o r e 2 4 grades with
sufficient pemnal effort md faculty help, mey also stressedi remrlies within the control of the ir;\dividwl sbdent or tmcher more often tbm did fwulty. T%is is a padicularly useful line of inquiry: h a u s e it b g h s to clarify what frustrates students about 'hardkclasw, md identifies ssme murces of faulty r a i s h c e ogiwf refom initiatives. "fhe acdernic difficulties experiend by m n y S.M,E, swdents, and the apparent difficulty of y faculty in respnding to them, m y be v i s u l i d as a structural conflict b e h w n the &litism and prctdestinarianism of science (cf., Memn, 1942, 19'70, 1973) md the democratic, cornmefist apgmaeh wKch students b ~ tagcollege from high schosl and the wider mciety. Five bodies of reswreh which illustrate the value of swkirrg to urrdersknd h w students proeess their expriences in 3,M.E. classes, and the c o d itions under wGch they hnction well are: the work of Marris, Sloat, n o m s and Dwis at the University of Michiga on factors affwting choices of S.M.E. =jars (1989); Tobias' (1990) exploration of the intrductory science and =themties class experiences of high ability students from other disciplines; Lipson" (11992) monrfary malysis of intemiew data from the Harvard-ftadctiffe study of women in science (cf., Tabias, 1 ism=% set.ies of calcuius 1992); and those of Hudson tachfng expehments at Berkeley (cf., Trei (1986) in physics at the University of H Manis md her e o f f a p e s hterviewd: high-ability women who had dwideid not to enkr science mjors; women who enter4 them, but left; women who y a r ; md m t c h d samples of men. At the end of all women r e p o M a varieQy aF negative experlen percent described spwifie class expe~ences(most ca in. mthemtics and cfxe~stry)which had h r n p n e d their interwt in se d m d e k n e d their motivation to continue. The characteristics of such elasms were (in order of i m p w e e ) : p r tesGhing or organizrrtion, of nzaterial; hard or confusing mterial, cornbind with loss of corzffdenee in their ability to do science; cutthroat compdition, in assessment syskms g w r d more to w&ing out than to encouragixxg interwtd shdents; dull sub~ectmtter; and grading system that did not refieet what students felt they had accomplished. Many of those who s~ayecI in xienee also complained about poor taching and an unplewant atmosphere. Male students d gone through the same experiences were much Iess itivs:atmosphere, the grading system, and the dullness of th male md femle switehers report& that negative science were more i m p t than positive experiences in other fields in rwhing their decision to rave. Sophornare switchefs c o n f i m d the alien= of the issues =is& by freshen, and cited the! quality and availability of faculty advice and suppod as critical in their decision to prsist or )awe. Tobias ( 1990) approached the issue of the I d i n g pipeline by asseding the existence of a 'second tierkf unlappt?d scientific ability among able pmple who
c h m ~to work in other di~iplines, but p s w s s suficieat interest afld prqamtioa to p u m e S.M.E. fields. Such p p l e might, she propses, be p m u d e b to enter, or return to, science w m a more flexible approach to a h & adopterf, and different m d e s of thought und mven high a e ~ e v e min o a e r fields (five women ludhg one fmulty m m b r ) who had emsidered, but rejeetd, a carwr in scienm, but who were suficientlty well-prepard to take wphomore seience and =themties dmm, a d m k d them k, unde mmmCer in a seienw or m t h elms of their cboice. Her hdings f r m this expe;rimmt are derived Fmm psrticipanl"s diary of their lmming experiences, and from open-end& in s. Her partieipmts descriw the 'apprentimsKp mdel' of scientific y, m d the 'mleaessbf its culhre, taries on the thiking prowses rquired by They offer& detailed co science md mathematics, and how these d i f f e d from thase to which they were amustom4 in othm diseiplinm. They co ted on the eaunter-prduetive e f f ~ of b curve-grading, and wgressive comptitian among peers, and fault& the namawws of syllaba content aid laek of application in the taching of concepts. Two of the mven volunbrs r e p o ~ they d had stmggletb with a desire to abmdon the experiment lsefore the end of the semester. Tobiw" monograph includeis m a m m t of Lipwn" ((1990)swotldlify analysis of qulihtive ht:emiew m t e ~ a l sfrom ti liongihdind data set af Haward-RdcXiHe warn= in seienee a i p w n , 1992; Ware et al., 1985, 1986, 1988)- Lipwn draws on inkwiew dab with fimt-ymr S.M.E. witchefs and persisters in order to clarie the: issues contributing to their dwisions to sby, or to move into non-seienee: conmatmtions. She found a pattern in which prsistefs evoked external explmati~nsfor their dificuttim in science murseg, while switchers e i t d their own inadqaacies as the cause. Switchers reject4 the cullurre of comptitian, a d felt that eo tment to science m m t losing the: chmce of a well-rounded, liberal ducation. n e s e findings s v a r e with thaw from wveral ather studiw of college womn, as reviewed by Widniall(11988) and s work is i m p w t because, along with Tohim" srlirlier work on 19781, it quwtions the assumption that the pool af pmpfe 'able" to taekfe mthemtics or seienice is l i d t d , Tt calls into qustiom theorites of on exfhsic va~ablesrather than laming experiences, It also supprt for a sbdent+enter@idapproach. to mathemtics tmching on in other disciplines, has not: b e n widely employ4 which, though not U gy of mthemtics, science, or engineering. In a nowideatifid, and suecmsffuff y replicatd, the int~mctiomand study patbms of Asia-Americafl shdents who did we11 in his calculus ciasms with. black studan& who p e ~ a m dpoorly. He diseoveradl that key dements in shdent suwess were: group study and support; s ~ d e n t s ' awareness of their t a ~ h e r ' shigh expectations; the hared experience of success
in solving problems of a progressively cballemging nature; and the building of self-confidence. Jaime Escalante's success in preparing minority students from poor East Los Angeles families for the Advanced Placement test in calculus, and Bonsangue and Drew's (1992) evaluation of a calculus workshop program for Latino students built on the Treisman model, suggests that Treisman's success cannot be dismissed as a function of the high intellectualcalibre of his Berkeley studeats or of his own high ability as a teacher. As the classic Hawthome experiments of the 19308 remind us, the strong effects in a desired direction created in a group that feels its performance is a matter of special importance to the experimenter (in this case, the teacher) should not be underestimated (cf., Mayo, 1966). Hudson's earlier (1986) experiment with students in introductory physics classes also underscores Treisman's results. Hudson found that weaker performances could be improved by making assessment practices serve as a learning tool: where the results of tests were given to students in a diagnostic manner with feedback on specific areas of weakness and with time to remedy learning difficulties in a program of self-study, students with lower scores for mathematical and reamling ability were able to perform to the required class standard. The implications of this body of research and experimentation are clear: S.M.E. attrition cannot be viewed as a natural consequence of differential levels of ability; classroom climate and activities play critical roles in determining the students who do, and do not, persist within S.M.E. majors. However, when we began our own study in the spring of 1990, the work of teasing out the whole range of factors contributing to high S.M.E. attrition rates had not been attempted, despite some promising leads in particular directions. Nor had a framework been developed to express the relative contribution of different factors to each other. It was this combination of tasks which we set out to accomplish. Study Objectives
In the spring of 1990, we began a thmyear study whose aim was to discover, and to establish the relative importance of, the factors with greatest bearing upon the decisions of undergraduates at four-year colleges and universities to switch from science, mathematics and engineering majors into disciplines which are not science-based. On the presumption that the institutional context in which science, mathematics and engineering education takes place is likely to have some effect on retention and attrition, we chose seven institutions to represent the types of four-year colleges and universities which contribute most to the national supply of baccalaureate scientists, mathematicians and engineers. Because information about the causes of S. M. E. attrition was limited, we made no presumptions about the kinds of factors which might be involved, nor about their relative importance. We adopted an ethnographic approach which was grounded in the assumption that undergraduates are expert informants who
Overview
14
am well-plad to describe the strengths and lidtations of their ducational e x p e ~ e n a s :where students abmdond their intention to m j o r in an S.M.E. discipline, only they em expjaia bow they w~ighedparticular elements in the network of events ldizxg to their decision. We =sum& that padicular piwes gmdm, S.A.T. m t h ion (weeially high g on their eduatiorral .A., etc.), were X&eX dents irxkqret and fomnes. However, withaut so be p r d i c t d or respnd to these biograpGca explain&, Within our overall aim for the project, we ineluded a number of s p i f i e objwtives:
* *
* *
to identifiv sources s f qwlitative difference in the educational experience of sience, mthemtics md enginw~ngunder-elssmen at institutions of different types to identify aspects of the stmchrre, culture, p+gogy, or other fatures of science, =themties and enginw~ngdepartmmts, schools md colleges which encourage attrition or im@e retentinn h r the whole undergraduate po.pulation, and for imprbnt sub-sets of it ta compare md contrast the causes of attritim from science, malhemtics and engiaeering mjom found among mate studeats of color, and amaag women of all mcmlethnicities, with fhom of white males to eestimte the relative impomnce of the faxmrs found to contribute to S.M.E. attrition
As m s t departments aad colleges do not kwp ~ s d l m e n tpersistmce, , and attrition rer;ar&, our first task wm to eskblisb field "witching' md field persisterr= patterns by groups of disciplines. VVe d e h & %witcfiringbn as to include both Xavirtg a dmIard S.M.E. m j o r for a non-S.M.E. mjor, and deelarirxg a non-S.M.E. mjor, despik an original intention to enter m S.M.E. mjar. Undergradmtes who had moved from one S.M.E, m j o r to mother 'were not count4 as switehers.6 'Persistenee%was ~ e to nm- intending to gradmte, either in the S.M.E. m j o r originally chown, or in another S.M.E. w j o r , We w m t d to h o w : what proportions of undergraduates shy& in the m j o r they originally chose or intended to eabr; what propoflion mov& into mother major in the same broad group of disciplines; what proplrtion moved into mjors oubide their arigisal group; and how the switching and persistence patterns of S.M,E. mjors csmpard with those who originally chose other groups of majors. Finally, we w a n e to h o w into which m j a r s switehers went once they had left their o e i n a l mjors. As there were no publish& national data which compare the switching md persistence rates in S.M.E. mjors with thorn of other mjors, we ask& the
o derivd fmrn their ed hbalations from &b. Froan a mt data on the last cohort of freshmn (1987) in the C. X, R. P, surveys for whom the H.B.R.I. had a campleb four-year rmord (i.e., to 295)13, we constructed the patbms of switching, p i s k n e e , and tmsfer of anajors wEch are su ia Tables 1.1 &ough 1.5. in, and s w i t c b g from, declarecf Table 1.2 shows the patkm of p m who enter& in X987.7 It portrays or intend& m j o m by 1991 for thorn rral major ehoims: begiming in a continuum af skbility to k h b i I i English, whete the smrikhhg mte is very low (IS%), though thw swial sciences, fine a m , eduation, history m d political scieace, where the switching rate is 28 percent to 35 perwnt; thraugh enginmhg and busiaess, where it is 38 percent to 40.5 percent, to the sciences, camputer sciences, and mathemtics, where the r a g e i s $7 percent to 63 pxeent; and finally to mjors g a r d to the a d s of the non-whnical and hwlth professions, where insbbility is highest (62 percent to 71 perwnt). The picare fox pre-mdicine is complex h a u s e m n y freshmen with mpimtions to enbr one of the hwlth professions initially enter the biological scienea. They m y change their rninds about this carwr path before getting to a "re-md"decfrrration, The most shble m j o r of the S.M.E. group is enginwring, which is also the most sele~tivein its scrwning prwdures for applicmts: 53 prcent of enginwfing wtrmts stayed withh one of the e n g i n e ~ n g S.M. E. majors most vulnerable to switching are mthematics and statistics, where the loss rate is almost 63 percent, The physical and biofogical sciene~s share a s i ~ l a rate r of switching: approximtely half of all entrants to these mjors (5X % h a v e into non-S.M.E, =jars, However, freshmen who begixt in the physical sciencw are atso more likdy than those who begin in my other S.M.E. m j o r to shy within the scit;oees by moving into a different S.M.E. major prior to grdwtion. The witching rate of 44.1 percent for all S,M,E. mjors (i.e., excluding computer science, and the h~llfiiprofessions), is very similar to that of 4.0 percent found by Strenta, Elliatt, A k i r , Scott, and Matier f 1993) far well-prepard and talent& students who enter4 four highly selwtive instiwtions in 1988. The S.M.E. switching pattern of the 1985 entrants descriw in the 1993 C.I.R.P. report @isms& earlier in this chapter) is also r that of the 1987 entrants shorn here. very s i ~ l ato In the humnitia and social science groups, approximately tbrw-quarters of the freshmm who enter4 their o i g h a l mjors in 1987 were still in them in. 2992. Xn English, the social sciences and fine arts, over half of all entrants remain& in the m j o r of their first choice. Most of the changes in this group were from one hummfties or swiat science m j o r to mother,
TABLE 1 . 1 Patterns of Pemisence in, and S~tchingfrom, Declar-ed or Intend& Majors by 1991 for 810,794 Undergrsduaes E n k h g a National Sample of Four-Yar fnstitutions in 1987.. Baed on mpublished ~bufadom provided by &a Clooperarive lmrifuxionafReserrmh P~.ogrm, Higher &can"on Reseamh lma&re, Univem'g of Cali,fmia, Angeles, April 1993,
Qdgimf mjor
S.M.E. MQom Biological Sciences aysicat Sciences Ewin~ring MathematicstStatisrics Marh (only)
Wistory/Pstitical Science Social Sciences Fine Arrs
English
Wealth Professions G o q u b r ScienceRechnical Business Wucaticm M e r Non-technical
% SMyed 516 Moved in s ~ m ro major mcjor in sante
96 Sraycd in major or group
96 SwWZtched ro m j o m iiz other
In making these comparisons, we must bear in mind the different traditions of the liberal arts and the sciences. In the humanities, faculty commonly encourage students to experience different disciplines before making a final choice. By contrast, S.M.E. faculty demand early commitment h m students in order to build their skills and understanding in linear fashion over time. The acquisition of a broader educational experience is, thus, more difficult for S.M.E. majors. Moving to another major, even within the S.M.E. group, is also more costly in terms of time, money and effort than changing from one humanities major to another. Those who choose the sciences are encouraged to see themselves as entering difficult and demanding majors, and those who graduate as part of an 6lite. Nor is switching viewed by students and faculty in the humanities and social sciences in the same way as it is in mathematics, science and engineering. As we shall later discuss, we found that students who left S.M.E. majors tended to see themselves either as 'failures* or 'defectors* (depending on the degree of choice in their decision to leave). A student who leaves the social sciences for physics is treated by family, peers and faculty as someone who has done something interesting and worthwhile. A student who leaves physics for the social sciences tends to attract criticism or concern. Thus, not only do the S .M. E. disciplineshave a higher rate of switching overall (44 %) than do the humanities, social sciences and education (approximately 30%), those who leave them attract negative responses From faculty, family, peers and friends, which is not the case for students who leave the liberal arts. Table 1.2 shows the final choice of major (by 1991) of those who initially entered S.M.E. majors in a national sample of four-year institutions in 1987. Almost a quarter (24.6 96) of those leaving the physical sciences moved into the humanities, social sciences and fine arts, with the highest proportion (14.4%) moving into the social sciences; 17.2 percent moved into non-technical majors which lead to professional or semi-professional occupations (largely, journalism, librarylarchival science, communications, law enforcement, home economicsand military science). A quarter of switchers from the biological sciences (24.8 %) also chose the humanities, social sciences and fine arts. However, a larger proportion of former biology majors (10.2%) moved into computer science and other technical majors than from any other group of S.M.E. majors. Far fewer former engineering majors (1 1.4 %) switched into the humanities, and far more switched into business majors (13.996) than from other S.M.E. majors. The most Frequent final choice of switchers From mathematics and statistics majors was either a humanities or an education major (with approximately 17 percent entering each of these). However, the most distinctivecharacteristic of switchers from mathematics and statistics was the high proportion (8.1%) who were still 'undecided' four years later. The dominant pattern for all switchers (whether they begin in S.M.E. majors or elsewhere) is to move into the social sciences, humanities and fine arts. This trend is enhanced by the tendency of those who begin in this group
TABLE 1.2 Final Major Choices by
1991 of 148,204 Undergraduate Switchers Entering S.M.E. Majors in a National Sample of
Four-Year Institutions in 1987. Based on unpublished tabulations provided by the Gwperadve Institutional Research Program, Higher Education Resemh Insticuu, Universiry of CaUfomia, Los Angeles, April 1993. On'ginal S.M.E. Majors rota1 Entering)
Mathematics/ Statistics (5,65 1)
Non-S.M.E. D e s M o n Majors of S.M.E. Switchers Computer Science
Health
Business
1.7
Education
All Humanin'es & Fine Arts
Other Non-technical
17.3
To& by Majors
5.6 (316)
(97)
6.2 (350)
(9n)
17.8 (1,004)
6.0 (337)
8.1 (45%)
62.7 0,539)
0.4 01)
2.5 (413)
3.2 (525)
1.8 (294)
24.6 (4,013)
17.2 (2,815)
1.4 WO)
51.2 (8361)
Biological Sciences (38,6 14)
10.2 (3,957)
1.1 (442)
3.7 (1,418)
5.3 (2,048)
24.8 (9,546)
5.8 (2,258)
0
(0)
51.0 (19,668)
Engineering (82,400)
6.7 (5,480)
1.0 (860)
13.9 (1 1,428)
1.5 (1,269)
11.4 (9,372)
3.4 (2,797)
0.2 (187)
38.1 01,393)
Agricul~ur~/Foresny (5,314)
8.5 (443)
0 (0)
0 (0)
0 (0)
28.1 (1,461)
10.7 (558)
0 (0)
47.2 (2,462)
TocaIs: S.M.E. to Non-S.M.E. Majors (148,204)
6.7 (10,267)
1.2
(l ,812)
9.3 (13,721)
3.1 (4,588)
17.1 (25,369)
5.9 (8,765)
0.6 (875)
44.1 (65,424)
Physical Sciences (16,325)
r, Q
Overview
19
of m j o r s ta stay within it, though not newsafily in their m j o r of first choice. WitEn S,M. E. mjors ovemll, "kmal resettlementbaccaunts for 9.7 pereent of all rdoations, c o q a r e d with over a q m m r (27.3 96) of all such moves in the social scimeesk ties group. Education attrace faf m r e swikhczrs from hisbry and poXiti ce (25.3%) thm from my other @or, except mtfiemtics, which contt.ibuh 17.3 p r m n t of its fomer =jars to education. Overall, the level of tmsfer into S,M.E, mjors from all m j o m definext as 'non-S.M.E. "hcfudhg those: who enter its 'undwidd" is mdest (6.2 %). The?fidds ~ontributhgmost svvitchers from other groups to S.M.E. mjors are the compubr scienm and &hat, -jars, and hwlth profession Mori;, who provide 21.0 percent and 26.7 preent respatively. The hiafogicaf sciences pain 20,4 percent from those ori@xlailly co tting to earwrs in the health professions. Enginming gains 13.1 w r ~ e n tof switchers from the computer and t s ~ c a fields, l The only other group to make a signif cant transition (8.8 %) k t o S.M.E. mjors am those who enter as %nddt;3;elarecitYTmnsfers into S.M.E. ities, fme arts, business and ducation mjors from the smid sciences, hu combined are v e v s m f l (2.8 5%)'Yhe C.I.R.P. data also allow& W to clariQ pattern of persistace, switching and transFetr of mjors by mx. Of those initially chodsing S.M.E. -jars in 198T 73.7 p r w n t were men m d 26.3 prcent were women, The proportion of women m g d from 14.2 percent in enginwring, approximtely a quamr in agricuXh;lre md the physicd sciences, to 45.2 percent and 47.7 percent, resptively, in the biological sciences, mthemtics md sbtisticzs, There was a striking gender difference in switching patterns in that, across a than men switr;hd to a ma~or wide rmge of majors, women more co outside the group of their chaiw. 7316ex were: enginmring, English and business, where the witching raks of men and of w m e n were very sinzilar; md the physical sciences, fine arts, he;jtIth professions md ducation, where the swikhing rates of men were higher than those of women. Wetber in S.M.E. mjors or the hummities md social sciences, women were less likely than men to stay in their original mjor, and more apt to witch to another group of m j s m altogether. Howwer, switching was much higher among women who originally chom S.M.E. mjors than amoBg those vvho chose mjors in the ities and social scien~es(52.4% cornpar& with 3 5 3 910). The 4 o r s in wbi& w m e n swi;tekersexc& women entrmts by more than 55 pmcent include agriculture (79.1 4101, mthemtieslstatistics (72.3 %"0) tthe biological sciencm (56.7 %), computer science (69.296) and the health professions (60.7 %) . In S.M.E. mjors overall, wnen show a higher propensity to persist with their ox.iginaX choice (58.8 310) than do women (47.6 %), and a lower propensity to switch to a non-S.M.E. wjor.8 For almost all 3.htf.E- majors where data are available, women show a higher propnsity tban men to abandon their first choices, whether by moving into ather S.M.E. majors, or out of (firem altogether. Women are 26.3 percent of those who choose S,M.E. m~iars,but
20
Overview
31.2 perwnt of a11 $,M, E. swikhers; m n are 73.7 p r w n t of all those choosing 3.M.E. mjors, md 68.8 p r w n t of a11 S,M.E(, switchers. The grmtmt propdianate loss of worn= by s v v i k h g occurs in m t h e m t icslstalistics md tfie biological sci@nm,where women are 7.3 percent md 5.0 percent (rqectively) m r e of wikhers than of those choosing S.M.E. majors. The eomparabie loss of women by w i k b g from the physi-1 sienees is 3.4 percent, and- from eagh g 0.4 percent. Persistmee in an ofigilnal S.M.E. =jar is also w d e s t among w o m n in nrathemtics m d the biologial science@, although their ~ t i a Xreprwnktion is stronger thm in other S.M.E. mjors, A variation m a r s in the physi-l s i a c a , where women show more inclination than m a to t m s f w into mother S.M.B. m j o r rather thm to move out of the; siences compl&eIy. This trend is also diseemable, to a lesser degrw, in the biological sciences a d enginw~ng,Hoyever, the numbrs of such tmnsfers are s m t l , Oaly around 10 p r w n t of a11 sbdents who chose S.M.E. m j o r s w i k h d from one science to mother. Tables 1.3, 1.4 md 1 .S revedtl a pattern of reverting to gender-rellau the f i a t choice of m j o r of tfiose who originally select4 S.M.E. le mXe wikhers from mtbemtics, enginwfing and the biological seimces are subsbtially rwnxiM into comput-er science, few women follow t more this path. The non-&Meal professional -jars r ~ m i proywrtianrttely men (largeiy from mthemtics md the physical scienws) than women. The ties ancl social scienea rmeive the highest proprtian (17.1 96) of all switchem, However, they are chosen by more femle than male switchers from af 1 S.M.E. mjom except mtbemtiesfstatistics-from w ~ c about h one-third of switchem of eaGb =X go inta the hu ities md social sciences. The hmlth profasions also rwruit proportionabIy more women than, men, largdy from the physial sseiences, However, the gender differenw in the h a 1 choices of S.M .E. swikhers is greateSt in &cation, w;hich rwmits mueh more hwvily from femie than from m l e S.M.E. witchers. The trend is most m~rked in mthemtics/statisties where 4 5 2 percent of women mitehers apt for an ducation. major, compard vvith 8.5 prcent of the m n , However, the preferenw far a d u a t i o n major is much stronger among women than among rnea for all S.M. E. swikhem, Inkrestingfy,the rmrgence of traditional genderbased choices following switching is least m r k d in enginwfing, where a high proprtioni of btfr m n snd women switchers chose businms majors. Women who are fomer engineering =jars also selelect a computer science m j ~ mr r e ofien than do women from other S,M,E, mjors, and they are slightly less Xe S,M.E, switchers, helined to chose a liberal arts m j o r tfi f different cultural traditions for Overall, these da& refltxt the imp ~ we shall discuss the wxes with r a p t to their a d e & c md earwr c b ~ i c mAS in mare detail in a a p t e r 5, chmges of mind among young women are more cu1t;umlly s a p p H 4 than chmges of ~ n among d young m ~ n 'This . is e s p i a l l y the case where women initially p r o p o d to enter fiefds which faMlily, peers,
TMLE 1.3 P e m a t of Men and of Women %%a PemisM in and SwiQhd h m D m h d or Iabnded Majors by 1991, for 81,0,"14 Underpdua- who E n k d a Natianlrl Sample of h u r - y a r Institutions in 198'7. Bmed on mp&&hed rabWax~s pred&d by rhe W p r m ' v e I m d d a d ReseamIr Progrm, atreonResearch I m d u , U&vem'@ of W f o m * ~ b ,s Axrgekg, April 1993,
TABLE 1.4 Of those who Persisted in and Switched from Declared or Intended Majors by 1991, Percent who were Men and Percent who were Women among 810,794 Undergraduates who Entered a National Sample of Four-Year Institutions in 1987. Based on unpubbhed tabuhimby the Cbpenuive I n s d a u i d Resetamh h g r w n , Higher Ediutuion Reseamh Institwe, University of Coufomia, Los Angeles, April 1993.
M-Mde, F=Ftmrle, N/A= Not Available OJallwho stayad in Origthaf major
same major,
OJallwira moved& ~ j o in r
% who were
same gmup,
% w h o m
old Wiroruryad in major or group, %whowere
o'ydtl who .awi&kdto 0 h 8 of majors,
%whawem
Biological Sciences
61.5
38.5
51.8
48.2
60.1
39.9
49.8
50.2
Physical Sciences
77.0
23.0
63.1
36.9
71.6
28.4
78.5
215
Engineering
86.0
14.0
83.7
16.3
85.6
14.4
86.2
13.8
Mathematical Statistics
61.2
38.8
N/A
N/A
64.5
35.5
45.0
55.0
Agriculture
76.4
23.6
NIA
N/A
76.4
23.6
NIA
NIA
AU S.M.E. Majors
78.4
21.6
73.6
26.4
77.6
22.4
68.8
31.2
History/ Political Science
56.6
43.4
46.7
53.3
53.3
46.7
14.2
853
Sociil Sciences
33.6
66.4
34.4
65.6
33.8
66.2
17.4
82.6
Fine Arts English Other Humanities
All Humanities/ social Sciences
Health Profe~wions Computer Scienctl Technical
Education Other Non-Technical
~
TABLE 1.5 F i a l Major Choices by 1991 of 142,890 Male and Female Undergraduate Switchcn Entering S.M.E. Majors in a National Sample of Four-Year Institutions in 1987. Based on unpubli'shcd rabulationspmvicd by drc Coopcrrrdw institutional Research h g m , Higher Education Research Institute, Uniwrsity of ColiJomia,Los Angeles, April 1993.
M-S.M.E. Desdnadon Majors of S.M.E. Switchem Original S.M.E.
To& by Major
Majors -pcacr
HecrWI
Busbess
Educadon
Sdme
Humanides & i"imAnt
Otircr NbnTechnical
--
Totals: S.M.E to ~KEMajors
20.7
3.4
2.6
3.1
26.4
0
.
2.0
20.5
13.2
50.8
14.1
10.71 99.0
1tW.O
faculty, or the wider community see as traditional male provinces. Among those whose first choice lies in the humanitiesand social sciences, women also exhibit (to a higher degree than do mm) the liberal arts tradition of 'trying out' d i f f m t majors before settling into a final choice, The C.I.R.P. data also show young women exercising a greater degree of liberty to change their minds across a broad spectrum of majors. These data also suggest the dominance of conservatism in the field choices of women. The majors in which women show strongest adherence to their original choice are those in which they have a longer tradition of academic involvement, career access, or professional dominance, namely, education, the fine arts, the humanities and English.9 Women who choose one of these majors are much more likely to remain in it. S.M.E. majors are a less-traditional choice, and women show much less persistence in these than in more traditional majors. Not only do women enter these majors in lower proportions than men, they also leave them in higher proportions. To enter S.M.E. majors at all, women must resist traditionalist pressures. They will be supported or encouraged by the same conservative pressures to leave an S.M.E. major for something more traditional. The final field choice of women who initially chose (non-traditional) S. M .E. majors tends to be consemative. We are greatly indebted to the Higher Education Research Institute, U.C.L.A., for enabling us to set S.M.E. switching patterns within the wider context of persistence and switching across all majors, and to distinguish the field choice patterns of women From those of men.
Method of Inquiry Our mearch design for this study was ethnographic. It's purpose was to derive from students' reflections on their undergraduate experiences a set of testable hypotheses which address our research questions. This method d i f k from deductive research which tests hypotheses derived from prior studies or speculation. The study was conducted over a three-year period (1990-1993) with 335 students at seven four-year institutions of different type and location. Approximately 75 percent of the data were gatbered by personal interviews and the remaining 25 percent in focus groups of three to five members. An additional 125 students (i.e., 460 in total) took part in focus group discussions on six other campuses. Their purpose was to check the validity of our tentative hypotheses. Interviews varied in length from 45 to 75 minutes and focus groups from 90 minutes to two and a half hours, The verbatim transcriptions and field notes from all interviews and focus groups yielded a data set of over 600 interview hours. All interviews and focus groups were conducted in the manner of semi-structured conversations that focused on students' experiences in science, mathematics, or engineering classes, and in other contexts (e.g., high school) with relevance for their decisions to enter, continue in, or leave their original S.M.E. majors. The form and content of interviews was focused upon
Overview
25
d i m v e ~ what g &tors (whether preseat or absnt) had b r i n g for S.M.E. attrition and pemistenw, and what we= &eir pattern of interaction m d relative who, prima facie, institutions ta r m d o d y genemb lists of p ~ t i ai l W" the bialogiai met our rquirements for inQrview. We hc1ud seiences (biology, b i w h e ~ s t r y ,microbidogy, botaay, m l e y and m i ~ l science); the physieaf scieaces (mtronoaoy, physics, ehern;stry, @&h scienwIgology), Mathemties md applied mthemtics lnajm were drawn along with science =jars so that, @a @gether, they reprwnEed half of out sample, E n g k w h g mjors c o m p ~ dthe other haaIf of the ample, and included aerospace, civil, cfierm.cal, elwtrieal, industrialldesip, mshanieal, mimnmental aad general engi g, ht-tieipathg institutions were w k d to draw approximbly Wiee gobntial irrtemiewmsas ule ultimtely mlecM for irtbmiew, ad.to p tion on =eh stzrdent% sx, ethicity, cummt matjar, fomer m j o r (where applidle), ywr jB, s h m I , S.A.T. seare in mthemtics Car quivdent) a d local telephone numhr, VVe mbsquentiy e h w k d the accuracy of this h f a tioxl with each potential htemiewe ia a short telephone mnversation. All of the stzrdents selected were those who had a -themtics 3,A.T. (or quivaient) m r e of 650 or lzigher. m i s pedo ce criterion was efiosen on the advice of 3.M.E. fwulty sa as ta inclde in our ampie a d y those shdeafs whom they e x p t d to be ~ p a b l of e handling thre course work, h order to put the accounls of swihhem into context, it ww also imp&nt to have the p r s p t i v a of non-witch~rs,The mmple of 335 u n d e r g d m t s was d m i m d to inelude slightlty more switchem (54.6%) thm non-wikhers (45.4%).10 Ail svvitchers were either juniors or seniors a d all non-switebers wme S.M,E, seniors who were close to g r a d u a t i ~ aIrr . ~ order ta claG9 what distingzzisbesthe expefiienms of male S,M.E. swdents of eolor, and X aX women, from tbose of their w%tc: m l e p r s , md how these differences bear upon their highex rates of allritiun, wtt deliberately over-sampled these groups who, historically, have Been under-reprmnted in S.M.E. mjors: 52 p r w n t of the sampie of white sbdents were women, and 48 percent were men; 88 studenls of color (46 women and 42 men) were irrbwiewd (26 p r m t of the total sampfe),lz "l%e gronps r e p r w n M were: Efispmic, btinolhtina and Cbimnalaicana; black; Rative Americm md A s i a n - h e r i m (whose ancestries -re J a p m m , Chinese, hotian, Gambdim, Filipino, K o r m , East Indim md P&ismi), We s e l w t d only Ame~cm-bornstudenb in order to earnpare exprlences in U.S. high whools, T'he eampositicm of fwus groups was b a d on. shard characteristics such as sex, type of m j a r , md switcher or non-switcher stams. With rare exceptions, we found it more prductive to interview smdents of cofor individual1y ,
26
Overview
ng upon attrition and As our pufpose wm ta discover e use of standardid persistence as our p m d of exped wi intemiew instmmnts wsts p r w l ~ d d D , u h g the brief scrwning intemiews (by tdephone) we explaind the p u v m of the shildy. n o s e we mfectd, and who a g r d to take part, were hvited @rior to their htemiew or group discussion) to t h i d a b u t fstctors wkeh had s h a d their decisions, Zntenriews and fwus groups were conducM in the er of a 1Focusd canvemtion: issues from an initial topie outline were explord in m order dictated by the narhrral stmctutre of the discussion, and those not s p n b m u s l y mention& were raised at natural b r d s in the eonvemtion. New issum brought up by parlicipants perltinent to the m i n rewrch qumtdons were always pursued. m u s , from the outset, our tenhtive set of discussion questions W= continuously refined a d augment4 by the emphasw which i n h ts pfacd on the factors thw discuss&, As i m p o m t new themes emerg&, they were explord with all subsquent interrtiewws,13 tion W= colleetd from evev sludenk: current and h m e r mjom; ymr in schioal; -themties S,A.T, scores, high s h m l and wllege G,P.A.s; evdwtion of high school preparation for S. M .E, classes; and rmwm for their initial choice of a mjor. We akt=cf all padicipants for a profile of their high sehml and eoXlege gradw (their mthem-atics S. AT, having bwn providd in advsuxce by their insti&tion). However, restfictions on the disclosure of shdents rmords, as well as the difficufv of working with unfarniliar instihtionai data W&, preclucfd our czoltfwtisn of other than sdfrc=pofid data. Xn addition, dt women m$ male studenh of colior were a s k 4 to ent an factors which they felt d i s t k p i s b d their experiences from those of white male p r s . Gonverwly, all whi@ m l e s were asked about my differencw they had noticed betwwn their o m exl;tefien~esand those of the femfe and m l e sbdents of eslar who shard their clasms, Everyone wm asked to describe my differenw they had n o t i d in the nature, difficulty, and twching stylm af S.M.E. md non-S.M.E., class=, Switchers were ask& to refieet on the process of deciding to cbmge mjoxs, Non-swiLchers were invitd ta describe ism= h d n g on their own persistence, and to offer explanations h r the foss of peets to other majors. We ellpford the personal strategies and instihtimal program which bad aided the persistence of non-switehers, and ask& all students to diswss their experiences with the advisory syskms-both departmentttl and instit-utlond. Finally, we asked every participmt to offer advice ta their degartments, coXfeges and &mIs on how the ducation Chey had e x p r i m e d could be improvd, aftd how more s ~ d e n t swho were able and interwtd xlnight be rebind, The study took place, on mven campuses in four different gmgraphic arm." Bnstibtions were s e l ~ t e don the bmis of their funding (public or private), their &%ion, the level of prwtip awarded their md the sim axld compsition of their gradmb and undergtliduate papulalions.
The scheme u d to differentiate t y p s of four-yaar institutionswas a modifid
version of the Camegie classification,"s Our concentration on institutions in which the ma~orityof undergrduates rweive their S.M.E. t.,ducation prmludd the choice of historically blak or women"s colleges, and instiwtions with highly s p m i a l i d missions. We are g w m , however, that impo&nt insights into persisknce and attrition within these m j o r s are to be gained by inquiries whi& fwus an these more s p i a l i d institrutiom.i6 The thrw private institutions includttxl in our sample were:
* *
*
a s m l l liberal arts college in the West, with a strong reputation for its tacfring (engineering is not offer&) a city-based university also in the West, with a small student body (under 5,800) and faculty foeus on taching rather than fund& reswrch. This institution offers irn undergraduate degree in engineering, and awards maskrk degres and doctorates in mthematics and science a large university on the Wwt Coast with a highly sele~tive adxnissions plirzy, and a high degrm of prestige relatd to its rmearch-generating
facu1ty The four public universities seteetd vary in terns of the prestige accorded their h n d d remrch in science and enginwrlng. They w r e :
*
*
*
*
a multi-role urban university in the IrJorthmst with large enrollments in undergraduate science, mthematics and enginwring, but lacking an established repubtion or strong hnding for its science and enginmring research
a large urban university in the Midwest which is well-hnded by resmrch grmts, particularly in the field of enginwring, and with an m m 1 prduction of Ph-D.s and a prestige r d i n g for its resarch which are s i ~ l a to r that of the lading private reswrch university selmted a state university in the Weft with welt-tsshblishd gradwte program in science, mathematics and engineering, m d a prestigious, highlyh n d d research program in enginwting , Original1y a land-gran t eoffege, it has m applid science: emphmis, a fairly open adAssions policy md a large student in&e fmm working-class families a large sbte university which is consider& the 3agship3nstitution for its western stslte, md hm a, good reputation for its enginmring school and high prestige for several OFits science departments
&eh of the five large univemities in our s a q l e offem g d w b d q r w h seienw, mthemtics a d en+m~ng, has Xarge undergdwte emollmmts, and ai diver@ sadent population. ae-third of our itltemiewws (M= 2.12) attend4 the p ~ v a t institutions e in our mmple, m d W O - ~ r d(P6 s =223) attend& the large publie universitim, &emll, the hstilutions we s d w M m be: wnthuuaa of prwtige that *es into acmmt of g d w t e d e g r w awarded, Xt wm our concern to interview mfficimt numbers of students in paeicular raeiaX. or e e c groups tO get a far picfure of their distketive earrwm. m e r e f o ~our , final choice of lmtions a d institutional also b f o m d by the raciaflethic composition of each potentid s te. Thus, at the ddwesbrn u~versity,the p x d o ~ n a net t h i e ofity group was h i m , of whom were the children af either first- or wand-genmation hdo-CEnew rehgws. The nofihwkm university enroltd more black sbdent%Shm axe to be found in the wesbm or ~ d w e s b mhstihrtions. Swdents in the N o d h a t who were Hispmic had ties to h e m Rico or South Ame~ea,rather thm (as in the west) Mexica. At the private miversity on the West a a s t , A s i m - h e r i m shdents were not numelt.icalIy a oTity. Howwer, on the western campus, most Asim studm& were foreign-bm md had rmeived their high s h w l . &ur suppsition that regionat differences ita the eompsitian. ions (wbeaer on ecaimpus, or living in the vicfity of the btiwtion) make impo t differences in the way that S,M,E., educatiom is expeiened by studlexlts of diffe~ngmces or ethieitieswm, subsquently, borne out by our findings, md is d i ~ u s s e din fiaptex 6. In order to retain site confidentially, we will use the fallowing abbreviations to indicate the fwtion and prmtige r d i n g of part-iculu instihtions in the text, and in hbtes and fiprm:
* *
P
--
Wmt Coast, private, r d h g 1
Wax2
=
western, pfivate, r d i n g 2
*
MWPUBX
=
~ d w e s l m public, ,
*
EEePUB4
=
b t Coat, publie,
A d S ~ n r r &ta l a d V;alMiQ Checks All ethnogmpliy is iterative, Data coding and malysis hegin with the transcription of the first set of interviews and continue throughout the study. As dominant themes, then h y p t h ~ s b, g i n to emerge, investigators rebm to the field to check the validity of their tentsttive theoretical wnstmcts among
comparable groups of informants. O v a the tbree yeus of this study, invitations to discuss our work at institutionswhich either parallelled or augmented our set of seven institutionaltypes and four geographic settings, o f f 4 the opportunity to conduct additional focus groups with 125 students on six extra campuses. The total number of students interviewed was, thus, 460. This second round of interviewing gave us fed-back, clarificationand additional information. It also allowed us to discuss the hypotheses derived from the main site data with students at similar institutions, and to augment our understanding of student experiences in a wider range of institutiollsand settings. In these discussions, students combrated our findings from the seven main sites, and thus insure the reliability and validity of the work overall. Both during site visits, and in presentation of findings on other campuses, we continually discussed the issues raised by our research questions and our emergent findings with darns, faculty, administrators,advisors, special program directors and S.M.E. graduate students. They were a valuable source of information on the structure of particular majors, the cultural climate of campuses, deputmats and colleges, the local economy, initiatives taken to address aspects of S.M.E. recruitment and retention and the difficulties associated with seeking to bring about change.
Methtnl of Ethnogmphic LWa Adpsis The tape-recordings of interviews and focus p u p s were transcribed verbatim into a word processing program and submitted to 'The Ethnograph',l' a set of computer programs which allow for the multiple, overlapping and nested coding of a large volume of transcribed documents to a high degree of complexity. Each line-numbered transcript was searched for information bearing upon student attrition. Most commonly, information was embedded in narrative accounts of student experiences rather than offered in abstract statements. This allowed individual transcripts to be checked for internal consistency between the opinions or explanations offered by participants, their descriptionsof events, and the reflectionsand feelings they evoked. Lines or segments referencing problems of different type and importance were tagged by code names. There were no preconceived codes: each new code name referenced a discrete idea not previously raised. Because answers to the same question were often not of the same character and did not cover the same issues, codes were never developed on the basis of the questions asked, but always by the nature of the responses, and by spontaneously-offered comments, narratives and illustrations. Because participants often made several points in the same statement, segments were often indexed by several different codes, each with a different name. Groups of codes which clustered around particular themes were given domain names, and the whole branching and inter-connected structure of codes and domains was gradually built into a code book which, at any point in time, represented the state of analysis.
30
Overview
Descriptions of the problem e x p h e n d by both switchers and nonwitchers were 4 e d in sepamb damins from those identifid as having dirwtly c ~ n t r i b ~ t to e ddecisions to leave the scienws, ShdentsVhwhes a b u t an abgewation were also d d mparately from switcfiing wkch were those ground4 in p experience. The numbr of padicipmts who mention4 a c h issue wm w a n M across the whole Atxi set md for pafiicufar s w i W it. Shdent concern a b u t their S. M.Ee mjom are expressed ia of the number of m p l e who mentioned each issue. n r o u g b u t our account, we have h l l o w d the &hogntphic trdition of premnting our malysis though the a m u n t s of the garticipanb tfre
Per-haps the most imps t single generalimtion axising from our malysis is that we did not find switehers a d non-switchms to be two different kinds of pmple. That is to say, we did not find them to differ by individwl att~butesof ee, attitrude, or behavior, to m y degrw sufficient to explain why one group left, and the other group s h y d . Rathw, we fomd a sirnilar anay of Icbilities, motivations and shdy-related khaviors distributd wrass the entire sample. We also found the mast co ns for switching arose from a set of problem which, to varying degrm, were shard by switcbers and nonswitchers alike. m a t distinpiiihed the survivors from those who left was the development of particular attiwdes or copkg strategies-bth Iegitimate md iflegitimb. Serendipity also played a part in persistenw, ofien in the f o m of irttewention by faculty at a critical p i n t in the sbdent" s w d e ~ or c prmnal life. h refleeting on their experiencm in the first two yr;a;rs of S.M,E, majors, switchers invaxiably distinpisheb experiences they perwived as bearing dirwtly on their decision to Xmve S.M.E. mjors, md problem of Iesmr simificmce which they n d & to aceo te, tolerate, or resolve, in order to stay. prompt4 some undergraduaks to switch Exactly the =me kinds of mjors, were an additional wurw of stress to sbdents who s w i k h d for other rmons, and were troublwme to y wlxa r e m i n d in their nzajor. Nonswitchers exgressd the same kind coneems and resewations about their m j s r s as did switchers, With mme t y p of problem, switchers and nonwitchem differed little in the proportion of each group who had experiened them, With other problem, non-switchers either experimcd them less, or had ]team& to wp with them better, than had the switchers. Qn every campus, we also found a, s m l l group of S.M.E. mniors urho r e p o a d they were p! h g non-S. M ,E. carwrs following gractuatioxr. These post-graduate switchers were 16.5 percent of all seniors tvhen all seven eampues were U e n into account. The issues md concerns of switehers and non-switchers foeus& around the =me set of issues across a11 seven campuws: there were no m j o r differences
bewmn hstiihutions of different type in the nahre of the problem d e s c r i w by their sbdenh, AEfhough there ww some vlzfiation in the institutional type;, every cabgory of problem was ,wlwtivity ,or reputation, and regardlws of diff~rencmin slim, mission, in identification of the m s t there ww little digerentiation across ca sehous concern by ei&er swikhers OF OveraE, the issues m i d by our pa~icipantsfell h t o 23 categot.ier;, so-me nwesm~ly,some ovwlap h the of which are broder than athm. I mtter, peaple W b u n & ~ e sE ' refnxrwn problem =&go their m a c e m as esmntially i-nbm2atd. Also the ways in. wEch u n d e r g d w k s defme or categorize concern which they perceive as relevmt to attrition or prsistencu do not necesmhIy square with the, wsys in W&& the caums sf attrition are conwptualid s, inicluditlg f~culty. mroughout our analyms, we follow4 our in definitions and distinctions in assifling have found it usefuE to represent the simificmce to their expairi relative si@ficmce of issues a ~ s i n gfrom accounfis of S. M. E, undergraduate e aaebphor af m 'iceberg" si. idea is itztended to convey nglcz; finding that problem which contrt.ibute most to field witching are set within a group of relaw concern which are expePiend, to same degrm, by all S.M.E. skdents, whether they leave or whether they stay, n o s e who switch reprwnt only the tip of a much larger problem, As, apad from those few pa~icipmtswho shard m y pa~icularfocus group, none of the intemiewms h e w what m y other participmt had told us, there was a high degrw of concumemce wross the whole sample as to the saIient issum, md their relative sipif-imee for attrition. The i w b r g meht;thoc is employed in this chapter in Tables Il .G, 1.8 and 1.9, and in Chapter 5 (Tables S. 1 and 5.2 ), bath gs, and in order to cornpare the relative impomnce (?ay W E md type of mjor) assign4 to particular rst eoIum contains all factors cited by S.M.E. swikhers as having dirwtly coxrtributerd to their switching dwision. Each issue for each switcher is eaunted only once, although, switchem often return& more? than once to mnmnrs which had wnsiderable emotional si*fiwee far them, g9 Swilching dwisisns were never the result of a single, ovewhelruling cotreem; they were always the upshot of a 'push and pull' p r m s s over time. This process typically involved reactions to problems with S,M.E- mjors, concerns about S,M,lE, carers, and the perceivetd merrits of a c a d e ~ cor carer alternatives. The avemge number of factors mntributing to eseh witching decision ww 4.2. The second colum in each of the 5ceberg"bles includes all the decisionreIatetd wncems refler;a in the first colurn, plus mentions of the same issue hers, whether or not they had significancefor switching decisions. im is espially useful for comparison with the third colurm, which repremnts the propdions of non-switehers who mention& each kind of concern as an m w t of tbeir persanal experience. Non-switchers mention4 an
average of 5.4 coamms, c o q w d with m avemge of 8.6 for witch=, mus, one simple (though not ~ a i a l l illu~n&hg)way y to distinpish switchers from non-witchem is to m them as pmple who have rather m r e problem with their orighal mjom thm do non-swikherg, The h a 1 c o l u m shows the proprtion of the whale s a q l e wba mentioned m h type of GonGem, We feel on in this c s l u m ailight set as a wide for h o w d e l i k a t h g what wects of 3,M.E. ducation raight -fully be c b g d , whe&er or not their p ~ m wnsidemtion v is attrition, h n t m r y to the co assumption that mast switclizhg is m 4 by personal i n a d q w y in the fwe of a c a d e ~ echallmge, one strong fmding refiwtedi in Table 1.6 is the high prop&ion of factors cited srs siMficmt in s w i b b g decisionis wGch a ~ m either fram stm~wrrrlor cultUMCl sourws within hstibtions, or from sbdmts' wnwms a b u t their carmr proqwts. We also found strong s i ~ l a ~bt wy m n the coxxwms of switehers and non-switchers in afmost half of a11 the issues repraenM in Table 1.6: the four most eo cited conwms I d i n g to witching de;cisionis were also c i t d as eonwms 'by b W w n 3f. percent and t of non-wikbers. R&& aceordhg to the eonthbution which they to w i t e b g , thme are:
* * *
1mk or loss of htermt in s c i a m blief tfxat a non-S.M.E. m j o r halds more interwt, or offers a better dumtian fmling ovewkelmed by the pace and load of cuhculum de
Seven ism@ wme cited as shard conwms by mare thm one-third of both ~ t e h e rm sd non-switcherg. ixxclude the four listed a b v e , pIus (by r&):
* * *
choosing a S.M.E. m j s r for
s that prove inappropriate
inaidquate depa&menbl. or hstihtioaal provisions for rsdvising or m u n d i n g a b u t a c d e ~ c a, r m r , or personal concerns
h d q w t e hi@ whaoE prepamtion, in depth, eonmp-1 g r w , or s w y skilIa
of d i s i p l i a a ~cointejnt or
An additional four concerns were shard by a smller proportion (20-30 %"o)of a11 witcher8 a d non-switchers. In
* * * *
fi~ajacialdifficulty in eampletiag S.M.E. mjors conceptual difficulties with one or more S.M.E. subject(s) the unexpecte$ length of S.M.E. mjors (
[email protected] than four years) l m p g e difficulties with forei~frxfaculty or Tea.s.
TmLE 1.6 "TheProblem Ie&ejt.g." Faebrzs Contributing to All Svvitehhg Dwkions, and to the Conwms of SkLehera, of Non-Switchem and of Aft Students (N=335),
Fec&r irt switching decisiom
All Ail nonswirchers A w ' t c h e r s '
All 5tdem '
cornem
concern (%?)
eorteem
(S)
Lack of/lor;s of in&=& in SME: ""tumd0m.f wiencen Plan-$ME major oRem better ducatiodmom intern&" P w r teaching by SME faculty Curriculum overload, fast pace avemhelmizlg SME3 c a m r oplionslrewarcis felt not WO& eEo& to get dqree Rejection of SME camem and sswiated lifestyles Shift to mart, appealing nonS.M,E.camer aption bdeguate achrising or help with a e a d e ~ pc d l e m Diareoumgedllostconfidence due to fow gmdes in w d y yeaw Fimneial pdlermo of completing S.M.E. majom lmdequate high school preparation in subjectstmdy sGllis MontIe u n d e ~ n e dby comtpetitive SME cuXrure Reasons for choice of SMB mjor pmve inappmphate Coneepmai dificulties with one or mom S.S,hil.lES, sub;ject(s) Lack of peer mdy gmup sug"port Diseove~yof aptit;ude for nonS.M.E, subject Pre;fer teaching appmch in nonS.N.E. coums Uneqeeted length of S.M.E. degree: more &an four yeam Swikhing as m a n s to career goal: aygem playing t s n p a g e difficulties with %reign faculty or T.A.r Pmbtems related to etass size Poor teaching, lab, or recitatian suppm By T.A.s Poor Isb/compu&r lab facilities +issue raised by mnon-switchers intending to move into non-S,M.E;*field followitlg gmduation,
Overvkw
34
Only four issues h i c h contribuw t"o witcKng decisions were not subsbntialty shard with non-switchers, n r w of tbwe reflwt underlying concerns a b u t of S.M.E. carer prospects: that the p c e i v e d job options, or m t e ~ arewards, l cairmrs are not worth the effort rquired to complete m S.M.E. degrw; prceptions of tow job mtisfmtion mdlar unappealing t ifestyf es in S. M .E, carwrs; and tkat carmrs in non-S.M.E. fidds have greater appml, The fou&h issue in this group refieets shdenb' expiencm of law g r d s and of curvegmdkg in their first two yars, leading to dismuragemeat, and loss of confidence in their ability to do mthemtics and seience, It would be hard to a r p e on the basis of this evidence, either that switches suffer from a distinctive set of prablems, or that witchers differ in salient ways from non-switchers as individuals. ,411 of the most co problem af swikhers m d non-switchers, including those which contribute most to witching dwisions, imply criticisms of the practices and attihdes which define and sustain the structure md culture of 23.M.E. mjors. The wonornic difficulties cited by switchers, iuld to a lesser degree by non-switclrers, reflcrxt a shard high level of anxiety a b u t wrwr a d lifestyle p r o s p t s at a time of m o n o ~ unce&inty, e and about the level of satisfwtion that carwrs open to those with S,M,E. qualificalionsare likely ta offer, Expressions of anxiety a b u t carwr md lifestyle p r o s p ~ t sinermsed over the three years of interviewing. Job-relatd eoncrerns were more highly r&ed by undergradua- intewiewd at the last thrw campuses than at the first four campuws reporld an in 1991. Criticism of faculty pedagogy eantributd to one-third (36.1 96) of all swikhing decisions, and were the third most eo Xy-mention4 factor in such decisions, However, complaints about pmr ng were almost univmaf among switchers (90.2 94), and were the most ly-ciM type of complaint among norm-switchers (73.7 %"0) Complaintsa b u t pdagogy carnot, however, he; seen in isofgtion. Alf of the four most highly-rded factors contributing to switching decisions reflect some = p a t of tmching, or rate the quality of Imming expefiences offer& by S.M.E. faculty m poor, campar4 with those offer& by fomer high ~ h w science l teachers, andlsr faculty in non-3.M.E. disciplines. The significance of this factor does not md here, h one way or mother, concerns about S , M , E, fwulty tmching, advising, assessment practices and cur;riculum design, pemade all but seven of the 23 lssues represent4 in our 'iceberg' hbles, n u s :
*
*
The rejection of S,M,E, earwrs or lifestyles is partly a r e ~ ~ t i of o nthe role models which S.M.E. faulty and gradudte shrdents present to undergraduates S. M. E. faculty are often represent& as 'unapproachabXekr unavailable for heXp with either a c a d e ~ or c carwr-pXaming conems
*
Students v c e i v e the curve-grading system widely employed by S.M.E. facutty as reflsting di&h for the wodh or ptential of most tmder-cllassmen, m e i r presumd pufpom is kt drive a high propdion of s a e n t s away, rather &m give ralistic a d useful f d b a e k to sadeats an their levet of undemmding, or concep-l progress
*
*
* .
*
*
Harsh gmding system, which are part of a traditional comptitive S.M.E. culture, also preclude or discourage callaborative laming strategies, w&eh y shdents view as c ~ t i c ato l a g d ~nderstanding of the mtenal, md to a d ~ p appr~iatiorr r of concepts and their appliatian. The experienee of conceptual difficutty at patticufar points in particular classes, which might not corxstitrute an insuperable barrier ta progress ngy sets in motion a damward if a d d r m d in a timely w y , co spiral of falling wnfidence, reduced clctss attendmce, falling grades, and despair-lersidhg to exit from the m j o r T.A.s (whether Ameicrur ar foreip) bear a dispropodionilte respnsibility for the b c h i n g af fundammtal mtedal in basic S.M.E. classes that are over-enrolfed given the gogical resources available
Over-pack& curricula wKch lengthen the time need& to complete an S,M.E, degrm place extra Frnmcial burdens on the growing propot-tion of studenb who must pay for their education by employment or the aceumufation of debt, Smiors express the suspicion, that over-packing the syllabi of basic classes is mainhind for 'W&-out" rather thm for pdgagieail, purposes Cei~r~cutum overload (cornbind with the growing length and costs of 3.M .E, mjors), also supprts the perception that the rewards (bath materid and personal) of S. M, E. -basd careers are not wodh the effort and costs r q u i r d to seeure them
n u s , criticism of faculty p&gagy, together with thaw of curriculum design and student assessment practiws, constib& the Eargest group of problem$ in 'the iceberg, ' both for switchers and non-switchers.
me h s s o f A & b Stdents front S.M.E. Majors The theory that switchers can be, clistinpi&& from non-switehers by their lnabiliry to cope with the irxtdnsie 'hardnessbf S.M.E. =jars, ar their unwillingness to co t to sufficient bard work, is a traditional way of explaining attrition rates and reflects a disinclination to .a attrition as 'a problem. ' I t may also finetion as a baPrler to attempts to address the eancems of swdents who prsist, as well as those who leaive, In Chapter 3, we discuss what the 'hardnesshof science mwns to students, and haw it shapes their
attitudw and bbaviar, Here we draw atention to the s i ~ l a r i t i e sbewwa ors wfxich s u p p t t swikhers m d non-swikGng basis of hdividwl a@hbu&s uding a d e ~ pc prdict wEch stu8ents are l&eIy to s w , and wXhichi to leave, First, as Table f .6 hdicatw, we fomd a: strong si&larity bet;ween the propdions of switchas md non-switcherg who r v d concepml difficulties in one or more S.M.E. mbjwt(s) (i.e., 26.8 p r w n t of all witcherg and 25.0 perwnt of non-wifGhem). As a fwtor in decisions to leave S.M.E. mjors, concep-l difficulties wme r e p o d by a comparatively srnall proprtion af e$l 14th out of 23 contfibutoq coneems, Nonswitchers (12.6 910) a d switchers suffer4 in sianilar propdions to witchem from the comquences of high shoo1 preparation which they m b q u m t l y found to be inadequate for college-level mrathemtics a r ~ i e n w :40.4 perwnt of a11 witchem md 37.5 preent of non-wi a d d hadequate high whml preparation. 'This deficiency was an basic problem for y sadents, despite the apgarent c s q e b n c e in mthemties indicatd by their S,A.T. =or= of 650 or more. However, conwp-1 difficulty W= thought Iess imp0 concerns as a h a 1 mnsidmation in switching dwisions. studenib, r e p d d that difficulty problem were it, faetor in switch tly in =themtics or ehenristry) of a single suqect d y acted as a b a ~ e r he-quarter (24.0%) of wi&hers d e s c r i w difficulty in getting help from faculty andfor T,A,s 8s havirrg w ~ t r i b u t dto their dwision to lmve, However, 75.4 percent of all witcbem, and 52.0 percent of non-witchefs also d e s e r i w this problem, More surikhers f 16.9R) than nan-svvitchm (7.2 96) r e p o d they had not worked with pmr study groups to gain a better grmp of mterial they found difficult, With ~ndxight, 11.5 percent of witchars considerd this oaoission to have eontributd to their lmving. e mough W did encounter switcfxers who wure unwilling to u n d e ~ the ds a d fieree pwe of introductory classes, we also found indications that most switchem bad work& hard in S.M.E. classes and had k v e s t d considerable. time, money, md prmnal tment in their effoft to gmsist. Earlier in this chapter, we c i t d natiana, s ~ E c d~eument h the kgbm demonstrated aloility of fxeshmen entering S.M.E. than those antering non-S.M.E., mjors. To this, we add our finding that the: m m of G.P.A.s repofid by witehers just prior to lmving S.M.E. mjors was, at 3.0 (rmge: 1.9 - 3.85) not dramatically lower tbm the m m of cument G.P.A.s (3.15; m g e : 2.95 3.95) rep&& by non-switching seniors. n e r e were s o m variations by diwipiine: the m m exit G,P.A, fbr enginw~ngwi(chers was 2.85 (rmge: 1.9 - 3,651, an6 the c;uaent G,P,A, for s e ~ o r wrzs s 3.5 (rmge: 2.95 3.95). The m a n exit E.P. A. for science md mthemtics swikhers wm 3.3 (rmge: 2.0 - 3.851, md the current C,P,A. fror seniors w~ 3.2 (rmge: 3.0 3.95). This finding, b a d on the self-repod %ores of our info
-
-
hllows that of a w e a t (1992) stucly of s ~ t c h e r sand ; persisters at the College af Bngkmhng, the U ~ v e s i Qof C a t i f a ~ aat Berkefey." Humphreys and Fre1md'g shdy, w ~ e f rexa all fimlt-time engin~fingfreshmen m t e h g in the fall s m m b r s af 1985, 1986, md f987p fomd that, "strudenls who persisted and students who switched earned comparable grade point averages (3.10 as o o m i p d with 3.07)" @. S), diflerenw uras not found to be slalistially sidfi-t. Enghwdg also fomd to h ~ v eenter4 em. The authors note that m ftigh whoa1 md in, the "smdents who aeE@vdwe11 College of E n g k a h g at the m y choose to witeh nevedheless" (g. 5). Our finding is al data provide-rE by the University of Colorado at huXder, for kahmen wha enterd S.M. E. mjors beWwn f 980 a d 1988,Z"e averqe p r d i c a C.P.A. (P.G.P. A.) for those wha persisted wm (at 2.93) ody slightly higher than for switcbers (2.86)- amparison by gender revealed that women a b r d with higher average P,G,P.A. scores thm men (i. e, , 3.05, comparecl with 2.99 in mgin g, a d 2S4, e o m p a d with 2.72 in sienee md mthemtics), Al&a~ghwomen enbhng S,M ,E. mjors are, in national mmples, found to have higher propfiianate rates of witchhg than. m=, in this malysis, h t h the; women who persist& m d thaw wha switched bad Egher average P.C.P.A. =arm &m mXe persiskrs and m l e swikhers respectivdy (i.e., 2.95 eomparedl with 2.92 for pemisterg, and 2.88 eompard with 2.84 far switchers), We were also i m p r e s d by the len@fi of time switchers pursud their origkaf htmtion, before fimlly dwidixlg to leave. The avemge time p e ~ spent d in the mjor b f o r e fwvi9g it ww, far e n g h w h g swifehers, 2.6 ymrs frmge: f - 4 ywrs), md for seimce md mthemties switchens, 2.1 y a r s (rmge: f 3 yarg). This h d h g anderaor- our absewation from the text data that, for mast swents, the decision, lo M t e h wtm not a e n until they had alrady expnded a cmsidemble amount of time, money md effort in pl;3rsistenee. Bath the acmunls of mitehem, and those of non-witchem who describe the errp~exlcmof room-mtrt;s and aim offer p w e h l kstimony of the desire to prsist, and the efforts do so: I do work hard, and my average load over these four years-even when I was tra.iinsfe&g out-has bwn 17, 18 hours a smester, plus a eou@e of night classes somethes. It doan%rally bother me to w r k that hard, But when it's a concept I don't unndersta;nd and I go t.o g a some kind of help from faculty and t h q just don% &give it, &at% diseoumghg. (Mafe white enginwhg switcher) She was one of those peclpfie,who all they did was study,,,Her fmshman year, we had to beg her- not to spend all her time worfing., .I don% tfiink she took
a chss &at wasn't biology or scienw,,.And now she=%a ppsyckology major. Shejust got so burnt out, She was pushing herself so hard, and she just wa~n't enjoying it. (Female bXmk science non-switcher)
38
Overview
I tried for all these caumes, f%ve thou&t about just devoting e v e q ounce of my life, but I don% t o w if t h t % ppossible, But that% what I would think about, This ChAstmas, I went home d t h my chemistry book and mad nine chapters, but when I came back here, I s a d & fankg the tests and X just got more and mom upset, (Male native A m e ~ c a nscience s ~ t c h c r ) Xd' ga h a m and I w u I d erztrn and study all night long. And the next day, the taeher mist take tws steps backards and prhaps eover a tiny bit of what you e o v e d the day before. But in engineekg, there" sabsolubXy no time for any f a b g back. Xn fact theyke always way ahead of where you think you should be, It was just push, push, push-afl the time. n a t % why f kept an pushhg myself. I thought, 'I'm just not pushing myself hard enough.' All my f~enclswere dropping out. (MaIe Asian-herican engineering swikher)
We; found mitehers whose le;vet of ability a d appfication should have sufficient, given a more enwuragirng learning environment, for them to complete their major. We also encountered a smiler numhr of multi-klentecl switchers, the toss of whose high abilities from sienee-bmd fields m y be af particular c m e e m , ~ Both mitchers and non-switchem mw their S.M.E. mjors as prone to lose sbdents who had both sufficient ability and interest to complete the degrw: M a t bothers rnrt is the number sf p p E e who h a w what enginwring is about, and rally have the eqabiEity to do well and be good in the &eld, but end up going sr different way far rasons other than I a ~ kof ab2ity. (Female whik enginwring non-switcher)
You could say to them, 'Do you r m 1 h that yyouke pushing talent& people away from your major") m a l e white science switcher) Well, since I've been here, I've gatten As or 3+ S , so I 'vve done well in mdh etasses here-same with high school-I always got As in high school. (TjemaXe white engharing gwikher)
X did one of the 200-level Calc XI1 ~eXssesin freshman ymr, just on the side. It was he-well, aetuatly it was a bit boring bwause I'd done all of that in high school. (Male whib science switeher) I love the: field work, and that" what I would rally like to do. I like to Chink about what" happening, and form thesries about it ...I got an A in biology, X got an A in chemistry too. (Male native American science switcher)
My G.P.A. has hung right around 3 . h d only went as low as 3.6 in my f i s t block, My physics courses were; B&or B+s, and the math was, I think, A-, (Male white science switcher, entering graduate school in music)
Sludent explanations for this 'wastatge' stxessd the counbr-productive consquences of faculty's p uption with wding-out, rather than supporting and ~ncauraghg,s a e n t s :
Overview
39
X%e ffiends who were in physics and in enginwring who were really good students, and wefe good studenb in high school toa. They were the A.P. students, and when they suddenly gat Cs, they didn" t o w how to handle it, I m a n , a hell of a lot of self<sbm is a a e h d to those grades, So I thhk they go rnmewhere d s e to r&uild it. (Male white science non-switcher) The students who left were smart enough, They were just extrmely overwhelmed, and scared to fail, @ems;tewhib female science non-switcher) You get p p l e that would probably do well if they were given half a chance, but there's so mueh eomwition, and not a hwk of a lot of help. (&male black e n g h m h g senior) It's the way this gentleman taehes. He believes in grading on a curve and slaughtering peopb in the first exam. You lose everyone "cause no one's encouraging you to s&y-the professor is very unapproahable. X think you lose rz ton of good people. W y sit here and get slaughtered when they can go to another dqa&ment and have some interaction with the professor, and some meouragemnt? (Male white scienee non-switcher) Mostly, you, have to be very willing to t&e the gbuse to see yourself through it. The p p l e who leave aren't nwegsarily any fess bXentd, but they just say, ' W y do this?"MaXe white enginmring non-switcher) I think they are losing a lot of intefligent p p l e who would be very goad engheers. One of my ffiends, he's.. .ganna switjeh into International Affairs. And my room-mate" a civil engineer with a 3.8 and just one year from graduation. But he's s k h g next year off: he just can" sstand it any more. (Male white enginwhg non-switcher)
W d a u t cfassm also had the unirmtendd effect of driving away some highly bIermM sbdents bwause they lack& sufficient iateXfectual stirnufation to suskin intermt in the disciplke: The first two years in physics are sa &&l. I m a n , they have absolute& nothhg to do with what you'll be doing later. I'm mafiid that's why you might be losing good students from enghwfing that are really qualified and have the intelligence,. .There are ways to make the introductory mate~afinteresting so that it daesn" drive away good people through bordom. (Male white enginwring nun-s\iviteher) Chemistry was sornethi;ng X excelled in and enjoy&, But there's no way of knowing when you get here that you are going to go on enjoying it. M e n X saw I ws losing inkrest, I was surprised, But, looking back, it% rally not that surprisirxg. The first chmistq class was p r a y uninspifing. Then I sat in for a few days on the next class, and E knew then it rally didn" interest me any more. The idea of going on with that far four years was rally unappalkg. (Male white seience swit~her) There" a g r a t many who have bwn very good science and math thinkers their entire; life, and who have high confidence. Then they get into engineering and
fmd there's no more sthulstion--it's just numbers and numbers and numbers. m a l e Asian-behean engixlaring setche;r) I don't &* that many p p l e who love science, math and e n g h m h g leave bwaust: they can%handle it, or b m u s e it%too hard.. .Momofien than not, p p l e that I h o w b v e b& bwatrse &ere b n % b n the; hteuwtual fulf*ent &ere for hem, (Male white: wience swi&hw>
Our mast i m p m t h d b g with t to hstibtianal t y p is thgt we found very little diflemnee Fheturwn th the nahre ajnd level of problem r e p ~ by d cument ors- Table 1.7 shows, for acfi cawus, the five most concern conthbuting to s w i t c h g, It also shows the five i wrn to sbdents averall, Six faetor8 contribute more thm all other m n w m to witching deeisians across alf mven hstihttiom. At six of the m v a imtihtions, swikhers c i t d the =me fwtor as the strongat conthbutor ta wikhing decisions-namely, being d m w to a non8.M-E. m j o r which held m r e interest, or o E e r d a better edl~catianaf expenlmce, This was cXomly foX1owd by b h g "hxmed off science" by their e x p ~ e n c e irr s S,M. E. cllmsw, The anly exception to this pattern was the publie b t Coast d v e n i t y where both switchers a d non~wikhersr d d poor b c ~ a by g S,M,E, facut most mrious conwm. However, p r W c h g as one of the top of non-switchem and swdenb ovemfl at alX seven hstilutiom, and it w a highly by swikhers at most hstituttions, maugh not as e cited as a r w m for switching, at most iastihtions, bath wikhem -&tchers p i a ~ dpoorly-found& initial choice of S.M.E. mjors and the poor qwlity of advising, counseling and tutofing s e w i w high on their fist Same erneems were more CO on pa~icularcampuses, or graups of m y hstitution, te the unique "aws-f campuses. This is not The m m problem are l&ely to be found elmwhere among sbdents with sinrilar educationalar soeio--node cimummces. It is not, for example, mimidenhl that the East C o s t state u&versity whose sbdents were e ~ e c i a l l yconcern4 about S,M.E, +gogy ww atso the hstitut e we+ met the greatest c ~ n h s i a na b u t the reliability of hjgh s h o a l pe e s ~ o r e as s an indicator of rmdinws for eoftege-level S.M.E. work, More thm at my other institution, studmts (who were largely d r a w from the sumounding gwgraphic arw) had k n eacoura@ to aspire to wienw m d mthemtics-based ctlrmtri fiur which they were under-prepard. However, they could not have h o w the extent of their mder-prepamtion vvithout to better objective tmching smdards ive concerns a b u t the uniadquaey of m d masurm of campa~wn.R their high s h m 1 preparation were also a m j o r issue for non-switcherg at highly selective hstihtions where more witcbers md non-witcherg c i t d the
Overview
41
experience of concep-1 difpieuitierj:than at institutians with less competitive ent:ry. mwtionihg the a d q w y af their high s h m 1 prepamtiun wm also evident at hstiitutiom where: w&+ut tradition wm found to b strangest. h=of wnfidenee axld dimumgemmt engender& by law g d e s wwe highly ect as a m m of s w i t c b g in the two wwkm state universities rivbere tive a m s m m t p m t i m were strong-particularly in their Cdleges of E n g h m ~ g . A m m b of k m c i a l diEculties iai eowjtethg S.M,E, mjors were almost a l w s ~ m i s e din conjunction with complaiots about degrees which took more than four years to wmplete, The highest I d of coacems a h t both issues were e x p r e s d at the two state universities where W also found the highest proprlion of s t u b & w o r h g to pay for their o w tuition, f w and living expensm, wad spending the highest proportiocl of time in paid employmeot. The other instimtiomwhere ane or both of thme issuc;s were fiighly r d d were the two mst exxpensive of the $v& iastitutions, Conce4n that the carmr opt.iuns and mterisl rewar* of m S.M.E. degrm were urrlikely f;a be wafih the costs Iethg it, were most m r k d wherever a high proport;Ian m i e t y a h u t the k m e i a l cosb of their ducation. ft is also nobwo&by that, in the smll, ptivate libem1 arts college where we e x p t & f;a find eonditiczm more mnducive ta g& dueational expe~encesin, ~ i e n e eand mthemties, the =in w n of switehers md non-switx3hers d i f f e d little from those of students in other ixlstihxtions. Afthough some a s p & of the t a c h g e v h a s i s tf&diti~nalin libral arts eolleges were discernable, tfiey were more in evidenm in the non-scienem than the seimces, where a s p t s of w d + u t tmditions clarly gingered. b one regard, swithers at this hstitcutian rep&& more problem t h did swikhers in my other imtibtion, namely, those mlaM to cuheulurrr pce and overload. This was a dirwt consequenm of %the blwk system' by w ~ e fstud=& i shtdy discrete arms oF each discipline iabn~ivelyfar short p ~ o d of s tim. Although swikhers found this a valwble way to fe?arn. in m m disciplina, in science and mathemties they Had hsuffieient time t s gab a good conwp&l gmp, thi& a b u t the mterial, gain hsights, or work confidently 6 t h abstmt id= too menfly encountered, Finding enough time for lahratory work wm a general problem in sciencct: cl== in all institutia~s.It ww even m r e difficult for shdents working within the blmk system, e ally far thorn who were employ&.
mffem~tcesBehueen $#dents E ~ t e d a gE ~ @ ~ e e d ~ g aP;td those E a t e d ~ gSeie~ceor Mathemnicrs Tables 1.8 md 1.9 rim dtiBerenws in the concerns af current md fomer mjors in enginwhng from those in science aad mdhemties, aund their si*fxww for patterns of switching. Although exlginmring students d e ~ f i b d tfie =me kinds of problem with their learning experiencw m science md mthiemtics =jars, enginmfing =jars suffer& from them more acutely. Half
TABLE 1.7 Comparative Ranking by Students at Scven Institutions of: Concerns Contriiuting to Switch'ig; Concerns Raised by Switchers Overall; Concerns Raised by Non-Switchem; and Concerns of Students OveraI1. INSTITUTIONS: 1 =MWPUB1,2= WPUB2,3=WPUB3,4=ECPUB4,5 = WCPRI1,6= WPRI2,7= WPRW
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MWPUBI = M i d w d , public, d n g l; WPUB2 = West, public, d n g 2; WPUB3 = West, public, n d h g 3; ECPUB4 = E4St Coast, pubMc, d n g 4; WCPRIl = West W t , private, d n g l; WPRn = Wcst, private, d n g 2; WPRIZ = West, private, ranking 3; WPM3 Sactlrwest, private, d n g 3; with r d g according to a modfjed version of the Gamegie ClarsJcation of I w t i t u t i o ~(c$, Chronicle of Higher Education, July 8,1987).
Lack ofnoss of interest in S.M.E.: 'tutned off science" Rejection of S.M.E. carecrs/associatcd lifestyles Shin to more appealing non4.M.E. career option Poor teaching by S.M.E. facuhy S.M.E. career optionslrewards felt not worth effort to get degree Discouragednost contidence due to low grades
3
TABLE 1.7 (continued) Compamtive Ranking by Students at h
e n Institutions of: Concerns Contn'buting to Switching; Concerns Raised by Switchers Overall; Concerns Raised by Non-Switchers; and Concerns of Students Overall.
Conceptual difficulties with one or mock S.M.E. R e a m for choice of S.M.E. major prove Inadequate advising or help with academic problem Inadequate high school preparation in basic mbjectd Financial problem of completing S.M.E. majors
Unexpected length of S.M.E. d e w : more than
S
TABLE 1.7 (continued) Comparative Ranking by Students at Sevm Institutions of: Concerns Contriiuting to Switching; Concerns Raised by Switchcm Ovcfi, Concerns R a i d by NonSwitchcrs;and Concerns of Students Overall.
1
Conceptual difficuitiea with one or more S.M.E.
Reasons for choice of S.M.E. major p m Inadequate advising or help with acrdcmic problem Inadequate high school preparation in basic subjects/
Financial problems of completing S.M.E. majors Umxpected lengtb of S.M.E.degree: more than
2
3
4
TABLE 1.8 "The Problem Iderg: Enghess-~gMitjars." Factors Contributing to Switckhg Deekions of Fomer Engineering Majors, All Conec;ms of Enginaring Switchem, of Non-Switehers and of All Studenfs,
Faetor in swi~ching decisians
(W
ACI All nonswiichers \wrlWrlzc7hsrs" c~ncem
(S)
cmcem
f%)
AII stdents" caneem
(%)
Lack of/Ioss of Interest in SME: '&mad ofT science* Gudcufum overlwd, fast geee oveauthlxrirng Poor twching by SME, faculty Non-S,N,E. major affem better educationlmorr: inbrest S.M.E. career aptionsl~wardsfelt not WO& eflort to get degree Shift to more appealing nonS .M.B.camer option bdequate advising or help with academic pmblems DiwaumgedlIost confidence due to low grades in early yeam Rejection of S.M.E. careerE and aswciakd lifestyles Reasanis for choice of SME major grove impgmprlsate financial pmblerns of cornipleting S.M.E. -jam Momle undemimd by cometitive SMB culturn Concep:pkral difieufties wi& one or mom S.M.E.mbject(s] lack af peer sady g m p mpgoft Inadequate high schml pwaration in subjectdsmrfy sIrilts UnexpecM lengtfr of S.M.E. degtee: mom than four years Discovery of aptimde for nonS.M.E. subject Prefer teaching approach in nonS.M.E. courses h n p a g e disculties with foreign faculty or T.A.s Switching as meaos to career goal: system playing Pmr teaching, tab, or reeitatian mpport by T.G,s Pmblems relabd to class size P w r labfeompute;r h b facilities *Issue mi=d by non-switchem intending to move into non-S.M.E. field following graduation.
TMLE 1.9 "Tb Problem Iderg: Science snd Mathematics Majors," Factam Contaibuting to Sdbhing Drseisions of Fomer Science and Mahematies Majom, All Concerns of Science and Msthematies Switchecs, of Non-S~tchemand of A11 Students.
Facsar in switching &c&om
f%l
All
AI1 m-
swircherg \w'tcIrem' cornem concern
A& sgde~&" cornem
(%l
Non-S.M.E. major offers beaer dweatianlmom intemst, S .M,E. camer optionslmwafs felt not worth eRofi to get degree Lack ofllosrs of intern& in S.M.E.: ' F U OR ~ ecience"" Rejection of S.M.E. c a m = and asmiated lifestyles GuKiculurn ovedwd, fast pace ovemhelnxing P m r taching by S.M.E. faculty Shift to mare appealing nonS.M.E, eaEer option h d e q u a t e advising or help with aeadekc pmblems Discouragedllost confidence due to law gmdea in early years b d q u a b high schoat pqaration in subjects/s&dy sElls Financid pmblem af completing S.M.E. majors Morale undemined by cowetitive S.M.E. culam Prefer teaching appmch in nonS.M.E.courses Unexpected Ieof S.M.E. degree: more than four years Corn--I difficulties with ane or mom S ,M,E. subject(@ Discovery of aptiwde For nonS.M.E. mE?ject Switching as m a n s to earner goal: sysslem playing Reason8 For chaiee of S.M.E. major pmve impp~gpriate Lack of peer m d y gmup suppoe t a n e a g e diRtcu1ties witXl famign faculty or T.A,s b o b t e n s related to class size Poor &aching, W, or recihtion support by T.A.s Poor lablconnputer lab facilities *Issue raised by non-switchers intending to move into nan-S,M.IE., field following graduation.
of e n g h m ~ swikhem g (49.5%) cited loss of inbrest h the =jar, almost half (45.1 96) cited cu~cululltloverload a d over-fast pace, M.7 prcent cited g, ais havhg dirstly contributd to their dwision to leave. The compamtive p r w n k g w for scienm a d m a e m t i c s milcbers are much lower (i.e., 37.0 R, 25.0 % md 31.5 96 rqectively) a d no other and learning issue is ax hifily r a t 4 by science md mthemtics switchem as it is by e n g h w h g witchem. D w i t e g r a k r mlwtivity in the adanissian of e n g i n w ~ g f r a b e n , m m e n g h m h g wikhers (15.4%) thm scienw and -hemtics switchers (8.796) cited conwpm1 difficulties ss contributing to switching daisions. n i s agak points to the higher level of difficulq that. enginmring shrdents experienced with the g a g urPiculum pace and assmsment in some scimce departmen& prwtiws af their =jars. Although tfi errcauragd strong competition for g r d m , cument a d fomer enginmhg mjors wmimowly r e p o d their classes to be highly eomptitive, As a canquence, failure to develop collahmtive md supprtive sbdy groups contxibuM to the switching dwisiom of mare enginmrs than aon+nginwrs, and was a generalid problem among a11 enginwhg st-udmts, The concerns lading .k, witching among fomer science and -themtics mjors focus& more on dimppointments md m i e t i w a b u t ca Seimce and m t b e m t i ~ switcherg s more neither the carmr options a d ~ t e ~ a l prmnaf satisfaetiom of carmm open to them, a p p a r d sufiEicient to justify the effort hvolved in gradwting. (T%e eomparimns for these tvvo issues are 40.2 perwnt and 33.7 percent far scienw md mthemtics switchers, and 30.8 p r ~ e n tmd 24.2 p r c m t for a g i x l m h g mitehem.) This ww not 'tswaus-e students in science? and mthe?mties -jars were m x e mtefialistic t h a e n g i n m ~ mjors. g Xrzdd, the contrary is tme, More enginwring (19.8 96) t b (8.7%) cited inapprop~atc;choice as seienw and mthemtics switchcontributing to their wikhing dsision, and the ill-fond4 choices of ly included a predorninantk rnateriatist e n g h m h g switchers more CO motivation, insufieiently g u p p d d by ietterest, than did tlre choices of other witchexs, E n g h w ~ n gstudents ermterd heir m j o r e x p s t h g more in m k r i a l from their future carers &an did science and mthemties freshmen (though they did not nscesmrily h o w more a h u t the nahrre af the jobs they aright unde*e), The discodofis of tlze w d - o u t sysbm, including the compt?;litiveethos, were also grater in engineering (and other classes and =jars preparatory to professional qmlifiwtions, @ p i a l l y pre-mdiehe). Enginwrs were, however, more prepard to tolerate these di~omfortsthan other S.M.E. majors, so long as they =W the as likely to have g& satla~esand carmr p proews a calculated ~ i s kin expnditure of tinre, effort and money to gain a profi~afile outcome. Enginm~ngstudents overall e x p r e s d more mger thm non*nginwrs
.
Overview
49
that their d e g r w took longer aad cost more than their adverti& length of four years. Science and mathematics majors were also dismayed when degrees took longer than they had expected, but did not share the feelings of hetrayd which enpinwrs e x p r e s d towards their colleges. Endneeritlg seniors also express& more finmcial conwms (28.8 95) than scienm m d mthemtics =niors (18.6 11, but it is not clear from the text data that they fsemtly experiened more financid difficulty than other s a d e n l in complethg lengthy degrws. Although s i e n w and mathemtics mjors were Iess mterialist in their first or s u b q u e n t Ghoiw than enginmrs, they expra& much mom the availability of jabs. As f m b m , they were also less clear thm ~ b d e n @ entering e n g i a w ~ n ga b m the cizrmr path they wished to fatlow, had less howledge about the carmm open to them, aod were mare fmrhl a b u t the prospwts of getting any job, Mathematics mjars were the l a s t certain about the carers open to them, or what they would do after graduation, Science a d mthemtics mjors were more XikeXy than engiaiers to consider gradwte degrws, both as a traditional carwr path in their disciplines and (increa,singfy over time) as a way to cope with deteriorating employment p r a s p t s for science and mthemtics b~ee~tlaurwtes, m e y were also less willing than engineers to ref"lwtd the w d + u t system less to gain, in carwr by doing W . With the exwption of @&dents Fntending to eater the rofwsioas, wience and =themties mjors were less btmmentaf than. engiaiwn:ng strrdents in their s for choosing S.M.E. mjors, md in their evalwtions of the qualiv of their undergraduate ducation, Both mitehers and non-switchers in science md mthemtics were more likely thm enginering swdents to erjtieim fxulty for failing to provide a satisfying ducationftl expe~enw,md to consider alternative =jars for educational rwoas. With the exception of "re-m&' mjors, who show a pattern of stmtegic witching to improve their chances of getting into m e d i d scboolrs of their choice, science and mthemtics wikhers left for reatmns which reflect a concern to find work that is atisfying in tlamre, context, or purpose, ln the chapters which follow, we diauss wch of the issues which contribute to 'the problem icebrg-broadly in the order in which shdwts encounter them, We also group together problem which sbdent_s m as iatenelatd, m e of the c h q k r s does not, therefore, follow the order of problems of (heir contriibution to switching decisions. We present the insights gained a b u t S.M.E. studenb' ceoncem, including those urhich eaatn:bute to switching, using their o m words, issues are su sections of quohtions, but tfim is much to be famed by h-ring the wthentic voice of the students tfxemsdves.
1. The American Frmhman studies are eonducw by the American Council on Edueathn and U,C.L.A.% Cooperative Institutionail R e s m ~ hProgram at the Higher Education Research Institute. 2. S,M.E. majam vary in the proportion af 'tlop\tudents each group attracts: beWwn 1978 and 1988, enginm~ngdrew an incrased share of A and A- students (from 14.1% to 17.4%); the share of fife scienws remain& s h d y at 7.9%; that of the physical sciences and premdieine majors drop* (by f 8.2% and 10,5%, respmtively); and the share of the social sciences rose slightly (8.8% to 9.8%). 3. Their estimates exclude graduates for wham a teminal baccalaureate is apprapriate-as in engineering.
Retention among black, Hispanic, and native h e r i c a n students in S.M.E. majors has remained low, despite improvd enrollments (cf., Colfa, 1990; O.S.E.P., 1987a; N,S.F,, 1988, 1989a, 14)90b, 1994; Q.T.A., 198%. Women" eenrolfment shows a twenty-yar deche, despite enhanced rsruitment effom; and the retention rate of high ability entehng women remains poor (cf., Q.S.E.P., 198%; Veaer, 1988; N.S.F., 1988, 2989a, 1990b, Grmn, 1989a, 1989b). 4.
5. A discussion of their findings on the causes of aarition is included in the N.S.F. R q r t - , "The SIstte of Academic Scienw and Engineefing" (1990a).
This follows the prmdent set in some, arlier studiw,most nolrtbly: O.T,A,, 1985; Lee, 1988; Tobias, 1990; and the seties of American Freshman survey repods of the
6.
Higher Education Researeh Institute, U,C,L,A, In institutions where undergraduates are not r q u i r d to dwlare a major until sophomore ymr or later, we inithliy estirnatd each student" incoming intention to dwlare an S,N.E, major by their concentration of classes in mathematics and science a e n as freshmen and saphornores, Confirmation that this had been their inbntian was sought from each potential participant in a short telephone interview before inviting them to take part in the study, 7. Figure A. 1, Append& A , indicates the disciplines includd in each group of ma,jors in the G.I.R.P. dak,
8. These persisteince rates closely match those found for men (66%) and f"orwomen (48%) by Strenta et al. (1993). 9. En the health professions the pattern is less distinct bwause this group ineludes majors which lie at bath extremes of traditional male and female prokssionai prdominance, namely, premdicine and predentistry an the one hand, and nuning and the therapeutic professions on the other.
Overview
S1
10, The rmson for this that, as one apgmwhes the end of dab colfwtian in an ehnsgraphic study, &ou@ there is always the passibsty that new infomdion w 3 emerw from those who have expefiend the problems being discussed, those who have survived them kcrwsiurgly act as a source of validation rather than of new infamation, l l . En Awe&& A , Figure A.2 shows the numbw and prcent of swi&hars and nonswitchers in our sample who were in engint=ering, and in science or mathematics.
12. In Append& A, Figure A.3 shows the profile of switchem and non-switehers at =eh institution by discipitine, sex and med&knicity, Figure A.4 shows the profile of nonwhite switchem and non-switchem by discipline and raeia11ethni~group. 13. The topical outline produed by this process is included in Append& B. 14. The study was unde*ken type in our own slate.
in two phases, begbning with k u r institutionsof different
15. Cf., Carne@eFoundaGon. 1987. Garnegie foundation" classifications of more than 3,300 institutions of hi&er ducation. Chronkk of Higher Mucation, 33: 22. 5 6 , For evaluation of programs at vvomen's colleges, se-e: Blum, L., & Givant S., 2982, "Incrwsinng the Participation of College Urornen in Mathematics-Refatd Fields," in Women and M i n o r ~ e si~ Science; Strategies for Xncreaf ing Partic@~rion, S , M Humphreys, d., Boulder, CO: Westview Press; Mappen, E.F., 1990, "The Doughss Projat for Rutgers Women in Math, Science, and Enginwkg: A Comprehensive hogram to Encourage Women 's Persistc=neein these Fields, " h inomen in Engineering Conference: A National IniLhtive (conference proedings), 5.2;. Banids, d., Wmt Lafayette, XN: h r d u e University; Rayman, P,, 1992, 'Qppofiunities for Womcn in Seienee: The Undergmduatr;: Exprimee." "per present& at the National Rmmrch Council conference, Irvine, CA, Nov.4-5. Published procdings: Science a d Engineering Progrm: QPLTargetfor Women? 1992, Washington, D.G, , fY"
17. Saidel, John V., k;jolseth, J . Roff, & EXaine Seymour, 1988. The Efhnograpfi: A &er " s a s e , Littleton, 60: Qualis Research Associates, 18. Tables 5.1 and 5.2, which compare the concerns of male and female switchers and non-switchers, are presented and discuss& in Chapter 5.
19, Aff figures in the "ic&c=rgP'kbieles are rounded to the nearest whole number: those in the text. are given to one decimal paint.
20. Humphreys, Sheila M*,& Robert Freeland. 1992. Retention in Engineering: A Sf* rffieshman C~horfs. Berkeley, CA: University of California at Berkcley, College of Enginmrhg,
21. MeGlelland, L. 19193, $ I d e m Bnteri~gScience, M ~ t h e m t k s ,and Engineering Majors a fill Freshen, 19&@/98&, Unpubhhed data provided by the University of Goloracfs, Boulder, Office of Resareh and Infamation,
22. These obsemations are; csnsisknt ~ t those h of Sheila Tobias in her 1990 rqort, mq 're D m b , mey 'reL)zrment, and in a number of a&i~le;@ a&ghgfrom her work.
Entering S.MeE. Majors: Choice and Preparation Choosing S.M.E. w o r n and Carem Many fratlty, deans and advisors are concerned to understand what reasons for choosing an S.M.E. major make persistence mm likely, and which hold up less well during the rigors of the freshman and sophornon experience. We thmfore explored the reasons given by students for their initial choice of major, the significance of their motivationsfor the kinds of difficultiesthey experienced and for patterns of switching and persistence. Tables 2.1 and 2.2 summarize the responses of switchers and non-switchers to the question, "Why did you choose a science, math, or engineering major?" Their answers to this question were grouped into the 12 categories shown as "Reasons Given* and are described below. As can be seen in Table 2.1, most students gave more than one answer to the question, with switchers giving almost twice as many answers as nonswitchers. This is not surprising. Switchershave more reason than non-switchers to reflect on the part played by their reasons for choosing a major in their decision to leave it. Many switchers felt that they had chosen their S.M.E. major largely because they saw themselves as good at mathematics andlor science in high school, whether or not they understood what was entailed in these majors or the careers to which they might lead. Fewer non-switchers spontaneously mentioned their competence in high school mathematics or science, or their lack of prior understanding about the nature of the major, unless these subsequently created problems for them. Generally spealung, choosing a major for reasons that subsequently proved inappropriate or insufficient did not (at 14.2% of mentions) contribute significantly to switching decisions (cf., Table 1.6). However, ill-considered choices created some degree of problems for most switchers, and choosing an S.M.E.major for 'the wrong reasons' was the second most commonly cited choice-related problem described
T B L E 2.1 Rmsons Given for Choi~eof Original Major by 335 Cumnt and B m e r Seienw, Maaematlics or Enghmhg Ufnderpduaks on Seven Campusesr (1990-1992).
$6 AI1 reasons
9% Aif ressom
given
given
(5% Swirehers or non-sw'tcheps who gave this reason)
Active Influence of m e r s
C d at Ma& ltndlor Science in High Sehoal
Meam to a Desired (Career) End Following Family Trrtdition passive; N d Pmssured) Negative Choice or Commmi~
One of Severn1 Viable Options
Scholarship Momy Available
Switchm or non-dtcher;~ who gave reason]
(5%
T D L E 2.2 Rwsons Given for Choice of Original Major by 335 Gument and F o m e r Seienw, h/Iathr=mati:iesor Engineering Undergnzduateg on Seven Gsmpuges (199@ 1992), by Gender,
96 W n gender who c h o s far this =amson (% All swnwntchters or non-me&hers who chose for this reason)
5% Own gender who chssr-e far this mason (5% AU swW(tchers or non-sw'khers FVho choafor this remonj t7
fit 17
G d at Math andlor Science in High Sehoot
16 12
Means ta a bsired portunit,y for it, You start: to realize that you rmXly don% want to 80 on daing this, bwause it's not exciting enough to allow you to put sn blinkers as far as the rest of the world goes. (Male white mathernizties switcher)
St-udentswho felt they had been pressurd into S.M.E. mjors by their f a ~ l i e s were among those expressing the strangest desire to switch. They employ& a number of extreme tactics in order to force parents to allow them to leave mjors they had not wished to enter, and found incrwingly intoterable. ninefudect, provoking faiEure in eritieal eIasses by refusing to work far them, and procrastination in dwlsring m unwanted mjox:
So I just w a i d two y a r s and when it came to a poht where I had to pick a science s s i ~ f i e r ) major, I swilehed and went t-o ~beralarts. (Female
So I sh&& sEpphg clsrssm snd sfipping exams on p u v s e , I h e w when I b d an exam, I wauldtdn" study. W e n I did try, I would just open the book, and just leave it in front sf me, and ju& sit b a h g at it. I tthought, 'This is aU a bad d m m , It's going ts go & m y , and I'm gohg tr, end up doing what I want, "&male: A s i a n - h e ~ a nscience s ~ k h e r )
were also cited i l ~ifllfluatial High s b m l mthemtics md sciexlee in the choice of m S.M.E. major. Their influence was of several kinds. First, good -hen are critical to the development of a strong interest in mathematics and sience, md to tt. g d grounding in basic howledge md skills. The tachttr vvbo &Am, excites md promotes their diseiplhe, is often the primary inspiration for the shtdent" shoise of an S.EM.E. m j o r a r For their desire to tmsb seienw or mthemtics: I%e had sonre: tachers in high school, and before, that were real influential in my choice, just by eneoumgbg me, I would say that's where it startd. [Male white m g h - h g
non-s~tcher)
I had inerdible m&&h c h e r s in high school, V e q organkd-hich I loved, My calcufus mehws wouXd have: tfie a11 the hamework that you would have to da far the whoge y a r ail laid out in advance, so you could plan your work ahead of time. I ra1Xy lamed from that. She was m a S n g , h d she really made it fun, I don%t o w how she did it. It was just Eke she was exeitd about it and she made: you f e l the same. (%male white enginee~ngswi&her) It matter& that 1 had some m l l y good mchers that turned me on, That" how you find t.hings in the subjects that you W. You enjoy it, and so you continue. I had math and scienec:tachers in junior high that got me interegtd. And then in high school I had 8 wuple of rally gctod biology professors. One of them =me here, which is one of the msons I appgd, (Female white science nanswitcher)
For
[email protected] pwion for mthemtics md science is b d l e d at this flame, then f w u d and rebed by Swmtic dialape, the influence of goad twebers continues as a sour= of support, and strength through times of a a d e ~ c difficulty: I th* two r m t ~ o ~ why t ~ I kept going in physics is because I had brilliant physics and chemistq teachers in high school-just exeellent. That rally kept me going, We had mueh mare interaction and paflicipation in eftass time, even in larger classes. (Female white science non-switcher) My bigest inspimtion kwards math was my 10th and 12th gmde meher. Me really got me into matfi, I never m1Iy 1kd him, but what he did vvas to get me interestd. And he did it in a way that helged me to Iearn. That" s h y X fee1 I've got a good grasp on mathemati~s.(Male black mathematics nonswitcher)
62
Choice and Prepararhn
This influence W= reinforced where stud=& were d r a w into interestirrg extrahers who made them fwl part of m Blite
n to the future of science or mtbemtics: We had a rally good hi@ sehool scienee prgram. We had some students go to the Soviet Union to study seience aver there.. .We had aceelemtd classes which incladd p p l e who are wnbrs here right now, From the 13 in. our group, six or seven have alrady bwn a e w p t d into med school. We aU had strong inter=& as a group-and I still c a m that over. (Male white science non-switeher) Xn our hi& school, the s e i e n w were far suprior to the rest in terns of the quality of the teachers. And if you were smn as one of the brighter kids, you were enc-ouragd to go into the sciences. I'd say a lot of my interest in seience came out of being part of those science groups. (Male white science switcher)
However, we not& in the accounts of switcherg the danger of wnfusing admiration For good high scbaal mthemtics or science teachers with a genuine prwnal interest in the subjects they hught. The confusion is compunci4 far those women md sbdents of collar whose teachem had encouriigd them to be "standard bmrersvfor ine gender or miallethic represenhtioa in the sciences: We had a biology tmcher who vvas wonderkl. I mwn, he was my favohb taeher to this day. We took the time to make sure you understood everything. He was tough; he: made you work. You felt t i e you vvanted to da your best for him. (Female: Hispanic seien~eswikher)
My high school eakulus tacher stilt s w d s me infornation on math, including jobs. He raUy pushed me. He's a g r a t guy. I m a n , we rwfiy got along well. And he's the one wha kinda pushed me into math in inllege, and said I had the mind for it, and that there" s a i d e open field with lots happening, and good money, (PemaXe white m&ematies switcher)
I had excellent mehers, T h t was rally the defining thing for my interest. X just loved my high rschool math t m ~ h e r .He was just unbelievable, He rwUy instiUed a love for the math, I just loved to be around him, And he ~atughtso we undel-fstood it. So then, of course, that made you f i t goad. Yeah, that defmitely was a huge influence on my daision. Because I ended up picking a major based on what I liked in high school, and that all goes back to the teacher. (Female white mathematics switehcr)
mure inlerest in the s~ieneeswas bars& largely on the enthusiasm of particular high s h m l twhers, or was over-dependent on their personal encouragement, students were at risk of discovering their lack of interest only after college entry. Unless love for the subject i s effectively disentangled from love for the teacher, and from the sebwtive idea of b ~ o m i n ga part of an dlite, interest in the subject withers mcc:the teacher who engenderd it is no longer premnt. This was a partiwlar danger for women and students of color:
My high school tacher, he loved us, I mean, he lov& the girls, and he was always encouraging and pushing us. I th* he r w g n k d there was a lack of girls in science, and that thhgs rally hadn't changd. ..maybe just a few more would help. (Female whi& science switcher)
I fml my twcher encoumgd me in science a lot more just because I was fmale, you b o w , and they want mare females involved in the sciences. But X came across problems with that. (Female white science non-switcher) It khda was a pressure at high s~hooEthat I should try to be one of the different pectpb, and get thmugk it as a female-which wasn2 a good idea at all. (Female whik e n g h w h g swikher)
Mmy tmchrsrs also pass on to their students the idea of mathemtics and science as accwsibfe to all, mdlor as Tun'. Shrdenk who confused the fun of hands-cm sience f"airs, camps and c~mpetitionswith a prafound intrinsic interest in science, found the experience af science a 'fun', by itmlf, to be an insufficient basis for the c=hoice aE these m;ltjors. n e i r interest proved to be extrinsic---that is, contingent an the charism and skills of particular teachers: In high schoal, my chemistry tmcher made chemistry fun and easy, E wasn't ever rally strong in math, but I always kind of enjoy& the sciences. And my junior and senior ymr teacher made it enjoyable, It was fun to get hands-on expehenee, I g u a s I chose chemistry baause I want& to be a b e h e r , and make chemistry fun for other kids like my teacher did. (Female white science switch* XR 10th grade, we were r q u i r d to take a biology class. And, up 'tiil that point, X wasn" rally good at science. X wasn" rm1ly inkrested. But I enjoyed that class, and X S&&& to get more and more inkrest&, My tmcher encouragd me a bt. By the time I rached 12th grade, I was really involved in scimce clubs, and in my science classes, I still wasn? realty great at science. I was good at biology, but the chemistry and math stij:flstump& me. But I just kept going, and, when E came to colfege, I decidd to stay with som&hing X enjoyed. (Female black science setcher)
The influence of pafiicuiar high school, tachers wm critical in inspiring some smdents to wish to follow them into twhing mthemtics or science;: I had a grmt teacher and that's why X thought, 'Maybe X could teaeh physics too. "Female white science swit;elrer) There was one math tacher I rally Iilrd, He had a grmt sense of humor, and he" make class a lot of fun. And X 2 always I&& math, but had a tot af dry, really boring twchers-and that makes it harder far some kids to learn. But he kind af inspired me ta want to teach math. And fh actually going to da it, X want to make classes fun so that kids rmlly enjoy rnath. (Female white mathematics non-switcher)
Choke and P r e p a r a ~ n
64
O~giinally,X thought I would go into bching mth, and fiat's why f chose the major. Therevsa shomge in the hi& schools, mid yet I was so imprased by my tachem. They wem just incredible. I t h f i I was rally spo2d. (Female white ma&emati~ssdtcher)
Inbrmthgly, a nqative exphenw of tmhing in a subject that is athewise enjoy& m y aXm prompt s dmire to X am, hopefuUy, going to -eh in a eompI-ly different manner from my o w ma& behem, just beeause they were all rso b o h g . I want to m&e my classes fun, so that kids will enjoy math. (Female white mthtemaies non-skkher)
Other wurms of active influe~m,u m l l y comet& with faAly or high school, were role m d d s whom sbdenCs a d ~ r md d sought to emulate, and mmbrs, whom d v i w an ducation md carmr direetion was infiuentiat in their chaictes, ft is uwlXy a i w m d that, h r a young person to be guidd by a mare exprien~edprmrr, whom they tmst md a d d r e is *@ratty 'a g 4 tGng*. However, whether the role pattena or &vim follow& is a e b l l y 'ggodd"depends on the relwmce of the memge far the rmigient. As with high ~ h w Xtw~hers who s t r - 4 scimw st the exwnm of sadenb' ather bbresls, some svvikbers regr&te;d havbg followd the lead of p p I e whom they ww as role mdels or mators when younger: A good frimd of our fangy was high up in h o r n , and had s daughter who I thought was just gmt. She was a b t older than I am. I thhk the fact that the;)" we= both women doing weB in a very male field ixlfluenced me a lot. (Female white enginmhg switcher) X was wo&g
with a rally great counselor who rally wants girls to sue in engiineehg. Even though my grades were Iow, she knew f could get a job as a woman, and she kept gsying, 'You can do it, "nd X felt it was kind of a clxagenge. Now, I wish maybe she" said, 'Why aren't you doing so well?Yf she hadn" been so good, I think X would have drop@ out a lot faster. (Female white enginwhg switcher)
My youngest uncle had some influen~eon my choiw. He's got a nice job. He's got a big office, And he's doing real live thkgs that actually change the wrld. He's working on S h r Wars, and burying n u e l ~waste, r and he raUy gets h t o his work, And X wanted a job like that, (Male white e n g i n - ~ g switcher) My mentor was a: rnechani-l enginwr and he was always tqing to get me b go inta that, I was a p w y good student, and X was t h i n b g about aerospace, but he bked me out of it. (Male white science swibher)
Given the aationwide eEod of t b last d w d e ta r a m i t more underrepresented groups into science majors, we were surprised to learn how few sbdents (2.6% of our sample) chose their S.M.E. =jars in programs targeting women and minorities. The kinds of active recruitment most
a k n mention4 were: Mirroritim in Engineering md Science clubs at high or junior high scfiml; R.0.T.C. sholarsfrip program; aod su =ram o r g m i d by coflegm or urmiversities for lmt Hmever, the idea that it is saelally desimble to incrmse the reprewnlation nE women and sudents of color h the sciences was ~Xwrlybeing dissenrxixlatecf, rs md c o m ~ l o m college , advisors, a d high pszrticularly by frigbi s h m 1 schml science clubs. h even smiler proprtion (0.5 %"o)f thow fo rmmited had bwn offer& ~ h n l a r s E p on, s entry to m S.M.E, mjor, m e r e was no difference b m m n wikhem and non-switchers in tbe degree to which they had been r ~ n t i t dor offer& fmancial assismce. Fhalfy, tlve noted so- critical qualitative differences between the kinds of family influence vvhich pressured their young ta h o m e square pegs in round holes, and those which f o s b r d well-found& m j o r chaiws, consistent with temperament, tafent and preference. ftudents' accounts of the kinds of influenw that helped them mke appmpf"iate&oiws and ts p n i s t in their m j a r s conbin mnsistent themes. Appropriate decisions are encoumged where parents, siblings y other f a ~ I members:
* *
* * *
* ;*
* *
play at science, m t h , or twhical problem-solving with their children
disctzss scientific aod mthemltical issues, and their applications, with their cEldren as part of everyky f a ~ l life y include their children in a hmds-an way with twhical domestic bsks, and in aspwts of their o w wark disellss what they d s at work, what part their work plaiys in the world, and what they f&e abut it r m o p i m md foster their children" interests md slbifities in z;chool without bias: or prwsure towards particular subjects or cairwrs offer practical help with conwpm1 hurdles md emotianirl =pp& though acadennic dificulties encourage their ~KIdrento develop ralistic aspirations, and (for girls espwially) not to under-estimte their potential or options are active in ensurring that the quafity and level of high schml science m d mathemtics are a d q w t e for college preparation offer themetves as a source of info tion and advice, stnd give plenty of o~7pamnitiesto talk out the options, elariQing the pros and cons of pafticufar mjors or earwr paths even-handedfy
It will be a relief to mast parents to h o w that no single student ever described such perfwt parenting, However, it was notable that non-switchers whs were
happy with their initial choice, mntiond mveml of these elements in stokes of how they had mm@to clhoo~their mjor: I had a morn who was always s&hg up Eittle e x p h e n t s around the house. I remember playing in b& tubs with water and seeing why things sank, or why they didn". She always b d of kept you asking, W y ? ' (Female white scimw non-switclzer) Dad and I would always talk science and math any time we were tog&her, and I really enjoy& that, (Femak white e n g i n w k g non-swikher)
My brother was a very stmng infiuenm an me. He was just part of an enviironment that got me into science, and kept me there. He did a double in bioc-fiemistq, and just gave me a sight of the future that m l l y help& me shy with it, And he would help me sem&hes when I got into pmblems with my studies. (Male white science non-switcher) I've always enjoyed helping my father, He's Mr. Hamemaker-he fixes everytkring. So I was always there working alongside him from being a little kid. Just &at expe~eneehterestPd me, Then, in high school, I had the same good tmcher for four years. He made a strong impression on me also. f was strong in math and the sciences in high school, but we" always t;iUc about things that were happening in science and tecfinology. So aXf of that togdher got me in and kept me inkmsted. (Male white engineering non-swiwher) Well, my dad's a awhanical conttacbr. And that" where I really got my interest-working alongside my dad. (Male white enginwAng non-switcher) He w u l d b ~ n home g dmigns that he was worEng on. Things like that, And being the one who designs and produces things, that beeamc very imporl;mt in my eyes. (Male white e n g i n w ~ n gnon-switeher)
E kkd to my dad a lot before I made my choice, We discussed all the goods and bads of different colleges and different options. Just to keep &king it through until you can see what you writ more elcarIy makes for rt better decision, I think, (Female black science non-switcher) Ever since I was a little kid, I always told my m ~ Imwas going to be a nurse. FinaBy, she ask& me, %y don" you want to be a doctor?"nd I said, X didn" think girls eauld get to he doctors, And ever since she said E could do this, it s & y d in my mind-right thmugh high school, (Female white science non-switcher) My parents always eneoumged me. They were, basically, always my best supporters. (Female white seience non-switcher)
I ~ f ~ a fInler@st il: tion in Table 2.1 d e s clear, the best foundation fox survival and success is tQ have chomn one% major because of an intrinsic inwest in the diseipline andlor in the carmr fields to which it is leading. sharp& difference in the choices of swikhers and non-switches was that non-
switchers cited ht&siiic h k r w t as a prime sour= of motiviition more than twice nly (27.8 $6) as switcbers (X, 196). fiwling frm to cboose on the hasis t b a u s e it encouragd bnding to the m ~ o r , a wnse of dirtxtian md fwlhgs of resolve though times of diffimlty. As mveral seniors explained, it is hard "to be f o e u d " unless yctu have a clear sense of where you are gahg, md why: X want to go into bio-mdieal engineehg, and I used my hobbies and interests outside of school to bririig me in that dirwtion. This has rally he]@ me to focus and study a foe more, (Female white engineering non-swit~hesr)
I wouId have drop@ out of enginmfing in a hea~beat.X h a t 4 it somdirnes. It's just that f love airplanes so much. That" the r a s o n I stick with it, (Female white engineering non-switcher)
Some of those; with a strong inkrmt in their m j o r owed their sense of direction, in, part, to particular hers, faHlify membrs, role models, or mentors, However, these were swdents who, while b a ~ n in g nnind the counsel of pmple whose opinion they valud, felt frw to choose their a m paths: I've always been interest& in the way things work, My E&her is a machinist, and X've had same high school tachem that were r a 1 influential in my choice just by encouraging me. (Male white e n g i n w h g non-switcher)
Some switchers who also chose an S.M.E. m j s r on the basis of intrinsic interest were d l i s p p i n t d that this had been dissipatd by the poor quality of or sophornore learning experiences. Dullness of the eurriectlctm or pedagogy and tack of bmds-on. science exge~eneeswere describd as having m d e h n d their ineoxning intermt and had promptd their search for more stimulating a c a d e ~ expefimces. c (This issue is discussed furlher in Chapter 3). For same students, interwt in mthemtics and science b g a n at an mrly age, as did the career ambitions relaE$ to them: I can't even remember when I m s n % i n k r e s t 4 in science and math. I think my mother, being a big feminist, always encouragd me in this, rather than in the more typical krninine pursuits, I went to science camp when It was young, and when I g r a d u a d fram high school X knew I w a n t 4 to go into engineering. It ulas in high school that I shad understanding the difference betwwn being a seimtist and doing resmrch, and being an enginmr, and developing applications. As it happens, I'm much more interest& in the appIicatians of scienee, (FemaIe whik enginwring non-switcher) I chose biology bwause X just Xovc science, And it's samdhing I feel I can handle. I've ealways wanted to be a doctor, ever since I was little. i( never thought of anything else. 1 just can't imagine what else I would ever w n t to do, Nothing else remotely a p p f s . This is just me, (Female black science nonswitcher)
68
Choice and Prcparatiors
There is, however rly intermtswEch were r e h over time, m d tho on romntie f m m y - w ~ c h we found ta tm a poor bmis far the choice of a mjor. h k r s t h g l y , nat all thaw wbo enjoyed wience had develapd their interest at m early age, On each ampus, we =counter& a s m t l numkr of S.M.E. seniors who had not k o m e inbrmtd in -themtics or ~ ~ i e nuntil w junjar hjgh or high s h w l , or until their fimt y a r of college: It was definitely in high school. Before that, X had much more artistic goats in ei&er music, dance, ar thwter, But, when I got into my ckemistq class, then my srdvand math track-and maybe: wm 8 little before that h intrigonometry and advimed algebm-that was w h t cgcked with me. (Female white enginwFing non-switeher) In the X&h grade, we were rquired to take s biology class. And, up to that pint, I wasn" rally good at science. I wasn't rally interestd. But I enjoy& that class, and I shrtd to g& more and more inkrestd. My meher encouragd me a lot, By the time I rmehr;ct 1 t th and 12th grades, I was rm1Ey involved with the science clubs, and with my science classes. Ss I just, de;cide$ I wanterd to st4fy with somahing I enjoy. (Female btslek science non-switcher)
We feel that examples such as thme are eswially interesting k a a s e they tl assuwtion that interwt in, a d the discovery of facility with, mtheimtics and seienee s u h j ~ btends to emer"ge early. Thus, the forss of inbrest in mathemtics md seience during adoleswnce often found among girls who were interesw in. them at an arlier age, nray not be imeversible.
Ahisnt h element in hitial choi~f: that is closely intewoven with irtthsie interest tment to a wider social Is the desire to en&r a padicular field be~auseof co puvose--a motivation we have labell& 'altruism', Attaching one's career goals to a dear wcial p u p % in some practical form a p p m to sustain intertst and momenhm though pe:riads of difficulty. Certain themes rwur in the kinds of soeidly-dirwted careers which students were mkhg: %mice tu others (including ahptatisn of partiwlar skills or twholugies tci help groups with special n&@; protwtion of the environment wildlife, m-systems, climte, air, water etc.); md the promotion of inkmationaf pwce: I'm going to work in environmenhl enginwing-in alternative energy, or on water goHution control. I feel it% very impdtZsint work, and because of the teehnicatl background I have, I think I can be a bit more effective, and mare practical in hdping with what n d s to be done, (Rrnalle white engineel-ing non-switcher) It% sneither the prestige, nor the money, It's the eontfibution I could make. I vvslnt to get into work that" satisfying; that I can feel good about doing-and
in the h o p of be;nefiahg a n h a 1 cclnsemation. (Female white science nonsvviteher) , I think there" a a d for p p i e who There" s lot of tension w r l d - ~ d e and are h&resle;d in science to help with tfiELt. (Male Hispanic seience nonswitcher) envhnmenbl and land-use dwetopment law. And with I can perhaps s+ wi& more authofity than people who have to d w n d an someone e k e to explain Ihc technical issum. (Mab whiw e n g h m h g s&kher) I've $=id& to go
my background in civii m&ee&g,
And all my friends said X should get into samdhing with immdiate economk gab, and certainly not anything r e k W to wildlife and the environment. It's well b o r n t h d the jobs am hard to fmd, the salaries are very low, and the advansment minimal, But I said, "elf, I've got to do what I want to do, and the hell ~ t what h everybody thhks, "Female white science non-switcher)
far chmsirtg S,M,lE. -jam are pxedodnmtly expressed and shdmts of color, As ifidieaw a b v e (and as discus& are m r e likely than m to rmk mteddistic %&her in Chapter S), at %amthingthey care abut, either as a mtter goals below the desire 1 fulfilimnt, or in pursuit af a valued social cause. The goals o f a long-tern wnt~butionta their hich afim nities, are
me U~irlfomedGltoiet! With the benefit of b d s i g h t , f 3. It prwnt of silritehers, snd 9.3 prcent of non-mi&hem, raii* that they hcd ehomn a science-based mjor h a u s e it m m 4 (or was p r w n t d to them as) a, logical exbnsian of doing vvelf in -themtics mdlor scienw clasms at high ~ h o o l : I was always bid I was good at math. I got all As?,and my S.A,?".scolres were n l l y high, so, eveqone 1 taUred to-my pamnts, counselttrs, everyone-was ssybg, G o into enginwhg, R's s lot of money, and wrnen are rwIEy nde;b,%d I gat caught up in all the h y p , mUy, based on the idea that, if you are goad at m%,this is what you do, ~ g h t 3(Female white e n g i n w h g gwiteher) l uras good at math, and p p b toid me tbat a good wrnbhation might be the enghwhg sciences, or maybe chemistry. So I just dived in, which was foobh, because, right away, X found out I did not 1ike chembtry at all, and Chat having m abaty in m&does not really mean thiit you%c going to like
e n g h w ~ g (, F e m b white e n g i n w h g switcher)
As is elwr fiam t h m extmts, m m swdmts r a t i d they had confuh;d g d grades with intermt and aptibde; for science and sienee-bmd careers. This conhsian vvas eompundd where shdexrts discovwd that the cuffieufurn or
Choice and Preparation
70
assessmat s m h r d l s used in tbeir hjgh schools were lower thm those af m n y p m , although their high whoa1 g r d e s were comparable: High school" nothing like eoUege. Even thou& I fmishd all the way through calculus in high school, I stiU might not be ready for a colleg*leveI math course. The placement test is good. f mean, it works for most people. But there" so m y you can look at sommnek high seltcsol background and b o w if they are good enough, or r a d y - e s ~ i a l t y if you are jiidging mostly by high school scores. (Female white science svviteher)
Such discoveries have negative raglifieations for s e l f q n f i d e n ~ and e prsistence. S o w ehoiws that subsquently provsd ill-found4 were b a d too namowly u p n sb8ents"rceptions &at they had good ability in m t h e m t i e s or science, a c e in college, 13.3 percent of switehers, md 6.5 percent of non-swiltehers, fmnd they had enterd with insufficient howXdge: of what was enbiled in the major or in the e a r e r fields to which they mpird: I thi& a lot of people now admit that they m U y had no clue about what they were getting into, (Male white sciene-e non-swikfier)
I ohghailly w a n d to go to medical school, anti I didn" know what major I wanted, And then, at preview, they said microbiology would be a good major. So tbitt" why X took it, I m t with the carer mther than the ssrbjwt. I didn't know anything about microbiolotgy, (Female whittl, science switcher) I still didn't rally know, going into it, what it mant to be an engineer, l i e , afier you graduate, You hear that you make a lot of money, and there" good jobs. But, just having some interest in math and science-you n d a little more than that, (Male: white enginwring switcher)
h interesting vaxiation on the under-infomd c h o i c ~w w o f k r d by those who hiid followd through on a childhood d r a m , The carwr arenas in which this group r e p o d they had most aRen i m g i n d themselves were: spdce exploration, flying, or aerospiitw design; work with a n i m l s (either in a v e b ~ a r yor wildIife context); md same brmehes of medicine. Many nonswikhers had built their choice of mjor an long-smding aspirations, and had expmded their howledge and experieaa in pursuit of these goals, whether at whooit, in hobbies, cantact with people alrwdy in the field, or in part-time work, We, ther~fore,count& these acwunts as indicative of "iatrlnsic interest'. However, some c h i l d h d ambitions r e m i n d in the r a l m OF f m b s y and had never been developed by rading, inquiw, or hmds-on learning.. With hindsight, students reali& uaexarnind d r a m had p r o v d a poor basis for their choice: I changed fmm microbiology, kause, when I was a kid, X wanted to be an immunologist. I'm not exactly sure why. (Male white science switcher)
I always thought I" be a vet, sa I had prdty much dmided to start in biology, But then I found X didn't really like biology that much, (Male Hispanic seienee switcher)
Choice and Preparation
71
&d whales, and I thought I would go into something relatd to them. My dad was bornwona Pacific Isknd, and us& to scuba dive; and so did I once in a while. So I thought marine biology was the thing for me. (Female white seienc-e setcher) i
I thought I'd go into aeranitutital just bwause I was interesM in space, and fiophg, you know, that we would have: eon&ct with somethkg out there-you, know, buM cobnies in spa= (hughing). Female white engineering switcher) I got my interest in Byhg from my dad, wha was a p ~ v a t epilot. And it s m m d like aerospace engineering was the way to go, ,.In r & r o s p t , I didn't =fly h o w wh3 I was geahg into. (Male white engineering switcher)
Another version of the %bXhdkhoicr: (evident in 7.7 96 of switehers and 7.4 4""0 of non-switchers) f w u s d more on a desirerf carwr goal than on the acadexnie disciplines leading to it: More khan anything, I want4 to ga to m 4 school, and X frgurd it was kind of the path I n & d to take to do that, (Male black mthematics switcher)
I w a mt clear on the motivational compnent. X wouldn't t m e to school just to learn. That wasn't what it was about. I just knew what kind of work I w n t d to do. (Male white engineering non-switcher)
A different kind of u n i f a m d choice, following it f a ~ l tradition, y w e rewrted by 55, preent of switcherg and 6.9 prcent of non-witclhers. Such choices were: rarely m d e in response to dirwt f a ~ l pressure, y but were a consqumce of following, in m unquestioning w q , what -m& the most abvious path. Xn enginwfing, following in fanzily foobteps wm report4 to be the nam, e s p i a l l y for women: Pmple in high school, they just assumed i would go into enginmring, bwause it was b d a the family tradition. My father's got an enginmkng firm, and all of us kids work& h it. h d so it's kind aF been a big pax2 of our entire life. (%male white 92nginwkg sdtclrer)
Support far a f a ~ l carwr y trend W= wmetimes given by high school twchers who fail& to m t k e other interests or tslents. 'The fallwing extract illustrates both this and wveral other elements c0 n ta blind, choices: I was doing fmc=in rnath and science, but I didn't really like it. I just kinda did It, and they assumed I was good at it. And all my teachers knew the rest of the family so they assumed that since they did math and seiene-e I would do math and science. X never really w a s an individual person that they had to deal with. I t h i k that was a big part of it. E rally 1&& languages. I took Geman and Spanish h high school. But it w s just an assumption that was made far me, and 1 eouIdnY tome up with anfihing else, And I thought, Well, therey$ always a job in enginmring,"~ X went along with it. (Female white enginmring swikher)
This p o u p of factors m m b h 4
prduce u n h f o m d c h o i w that provcld highly unstable unless b u t t t m d by ather fwtom f a v o h g sumivd. Too W&or Toe Mach Choice A s m l l numhr of m d e n b a p p r d ta b at oppsite a& of the =me tmm: 4.9 p w t of gwi&ben md 6.0 p e r m t of non-mikhem feXt hey not iretively chomn their major, bwt red it for negative rw€beyfound am-science al&mativm diffieult or mpaIabbXe: X k d no idea w h t an e l m ~ aengiflmr i did when I came in, but you have to chose a spialty. So what you do is to make a list of aU the different spialties, cross out eve-hg you hale, and w h t youye left with is what you are gonna be doing. (Male white enginwring non-switcher) My last summer at school, I took chemistry and English. As f i r the chemktq, X didn't study that much, you Ecnow, a& 1 mjoyed it, But, for the En@hish class, i spent every w&g haur rmdkg books. h d I hat& that. So I guess 1 like science baer. (Mate whik seieneie non-s~tcher)
Gonversdy , 2.3 p~rcentof switcherg and 0.9 prcent of non-wikhers m p o d d that e a t e ~ n ag seienm-b major W= just one of several optiom open to them given their rmge of interesb, abilities and high school prqaration: X fma1Ey ended up with manomies, and decided to drop e v e e i n g else in the bumanitie~thaf wasn't relatd to math and seience. I'm d o h gquantibtive economics, so the mathematical stuff fits very well with my background. (Male white seienee switcher) I had the higbest test scows in my high school far maths but I didn't want to be tied down until I M the chanee to sample other thhgs. X vvas happy to come to coUege and discover what I wanw to do with my math as f w n t along, (Male white mathmaficrr switcher)
As we nsts thoughout this report, on every ampus we encaunkrd a group aF
multi-taXenM scxrikhem wha felt under-stimuXaM by their f r e ~ h ma r sophornare intelleetuaf e x p r i e a c ~and who were drawn to explore ather intermts, Some found ways to blend their interests in seiencs and mthewtics with other disciplines; others left with regret, but with an ongoing interest in science md mthentatics, By any mwure, they represat a real foss to the fields of science, -themtics md mgineerixlg. sing an $,MeE. m j o r we have lahdled 'mteridist' padicular mjors- as the are, broadly, of thrm kinds. First, wme f shding salary and longkey ta d w i r d levels of remunemtion (km tern salary prospects), mdlor prestigious carwr paths:
Choke and Rep~r&ioa
73
There" also the lure of a m k g a lot af money as an enghmr-the glamol~r and the money if you" a dodocbr, And I t h a some:p p l e are misted by that. (Female Asian-hehean scienm switeher) mere" a lot of p p l e , h me E guws, who try to go thmugh it 'eause it's good money, And &ern%only a a m of v p I e who are rally into e n M e e h g as a pugion. (Male white engha*g switcher) PeclpIe go to couege and choose what they want ta do, bwause it has same rew&rds in the future, It must at least be on the back-burners in hi& school-studa~ talk about money a d jobs s lot, (Female whier: science s~tcber)
The pregsura from mkhalist p r culture, and from the wider m i a l world of the high shoo1 senior, m y prwe hard to rmist: Evevone you know says, %o to sehoal to get an dueation to get a goodpaying job.' They don't say, 'G& a good job. T h e y always say, 'Get a highpaykg job"one th& pays well, nat neewsrtrily one that you love, (Female white science skteher) A lot of p p l e told me I would &e 8 lot aE money, gartieularly as a w m a n in chemical enginwhg. And it all $OM&& good to me, espwially shee a lot of my frir=ndsfrom high setroofwere going to pfaees f i e Pheeton. X felt I had to live up to that. h d what X rally wanted was to tmch math and science, but
X didn? want to say, "h I'm gohg kta an dueation major."Female e n g h s h g switcher-to education)
white
Some well-prepard shdents who consider& entry to mafiemtim or a pafiic~rlarwienee on the bmis of ability or interast, but who were d i v m d into c a r w r - f w u d mjors for mbrial rwoxrs, end& up ouhide of the sciencm I was good in chemistry, and I heard that engiawm made more money than chemists. So L figured, well, chemical enginmhg, and thst sounded good to me. But it was abviously s big nrhae, bwause, as X s a d a i n g the real enginmhg classes, X m I a thst I hated whstt enginars do, and, before that I had no ides. (Female wf_xiE;eenghwGng switcher) f chose e n g h e ~ bmause g X liked math. That was my fav0r;it-e sub~wtall through hi& school...But I didn" tanna major in math beeause engineers make more money. (Female white engineering svvitehers) Since I was a little kid, I've had a fascination with wanting to be an architmt. So that got sofl af suppwsed, I guess, throughout high school when I shad to think praetieauy, like, Wow much monq am I going to make when I get out o f sehoolY h d that gat me thhking of choosing a major that was gonna get me a good job when I got out of school, rather than doing something I rwE&want& to do, (Male white enginee~ngswitch@
74
Choice and Preparsrt-ion
A relatively rare form of 'mterialism' was evident in choices which were influence8 by a coneem to e a salid fmmcial contribution to the sbdent's e of motivation was mast discernable among students of cofor md is discuss4 in Chapter 6. Pragmtie elements in choices w r e highly internoven with mater"ial considemtiom, md reRttet the concept of the m j o r sls a ca I think pmpXe think about this s lot: 'Will I have a good job?, ..In four yars, five ycars, this will be aver, and I'll be out, and it wilX be an a s y ride for the rest of my Life."Female white seienee switcher)
I was originally going to do arehitwture in high school, and I changed my mind and decided that mmhanieal engineehng would give me the broadest background in four ymrs. (Fernale whi& engineering non-switcher)
Wlli, actually, I always wanM to be in International Relations. I a l w y s did realIy well in math though: I took calculus, chemistry and advancd chemistry and physics in high school. And I didn? think there was a future in liberal arts at that time, so f dwidd to go into physics. Very gmgmatic, (Female white science switcher)
Pratgmtic considerations also included: looking for the best long-tern value for the time and money ta be invest4 in a mjor; swking a field which would offer a competitive edge in a rapidly changingjab mlt-ket; and 'hfieging your bets' by chwsing a m j o r with a reputation for "hardness' in expectation of tess competition over the tong tern, A fall-back position was often add& in case the major provd 'too hard.' Switching as a form of system playing (mentioned in the wenriew and discus& Eurther in Chapter 4) atso included sadeats who entered, md then left, S,M.E, mjors for pragmtic rmans: 1711 make ai lot more money, and have a lot more hai ice of areas to get into. And I fmI h a n c e is a lot more prestigious. I mean, tmching is known as a low-1p;l-yingjob, and research too, And I'm not interested in it. This was one of the key factors in changing, you know, the idea of making more money,.,Now X can make more, and have a lot more prestige in a, financerefatd carar.. (Male white science switcher)
This may sound terrible, but I'm in college to make some money, Xm ' not here to get the degrm. I didn" tthnk I was going to make it in any of the s~ience fields that I w s n %happy with over there, so X looked around. (Female white science switcher)
Interestingly, pragmtie motivations of this kind, which were very prevalent (among enginers espxially) in. y of the earlier interviews, were less only encountered in later interviews, They were inerasingly displacd by cancems about seuring any employment byand gmduation, and about the fuprospwts in padicular carer fields or spaialties. 'The issue of, Mow much can 1 expat to earn? was increasingty replaced with, Will f get a job at
C h k e and Prepaudon
75
allhand, Haw w u r e a hture will it offer? 'This shift, refisting the high sexlsitivity of undergrahw@ to ehmges in the %onomy, W= most diwmable in pbysies, m t h e w i e s , geology ancl in the engineering weeidties most closely link& to the military-industrid sector. This trend has increasing relevance for switching dsisians s~ over the three years of &h gathe~ngwe incrwingly found shdents weighkg the time ltsld money they had invest& in pafliculw mjom, aod the wsts and bnefits of gradmfi: whool, against their prceptioas of earwr prospec&: My middle bro&er went to Yale arid did art hbtory and is unemployed. So thd was a hetor. I've always had this sense tfid you would be able to get a job if you did engineering-which is a consideration nowadays, (Male white enginsering switcher) You can gets managementjob that:might be twhnieally-oriented, and step into positions above humanities majors, Engineering majors, if thcyke done well academically, are much more ceompetitive than other students. (Female white enginmhng non-svvitcher)
I think there" s lot o f opportunlilies for women enginmrs, E knew there were jobs, but I don't know if I h e w what I'd be doing in those jobs. W e n I gut here, I r a l i z d this isn't rally what I want to do at all. I don't think enginee~ngeven really interested me. f would have had a job right after I graduatd, and I vvouldn" have had to wony about it, but I wanna make sure that X like what I'm doing. (Female white engkwring switcher) This school is so expnsive &at you want &I bbe able to get a job when you get out, You're g u a r a n t d a future with engineering earning to a place like this, Youke going to get hired. And that was very attractive to me, (Female white e n g i n m h g switcher)
E think the liberal arts really sear& me. They were what 1 raXIy loved, but I thought, 7 need to do something concrete with my life, I can't just graduab with a major h history, M a t am X gokg to do with that? There are no job oggofiunitles. ' A n d I'm a woman, I have to have an a r a that I can do something definite in and prove myself. (Female white science switcher)
The accounts of switchers whose choice of mjor was based partly o-n pragmatic considerations resonate with regret. Unless accompiznid by strong disciplinary interest, unsupportd mtet-iailism or pragmtism tends to break d o m under pressure, Switcherg describe their error as: "giving up the prwent e work at something you will enjoy," for the: ftlhre," ""squande~ngthe ~ h a c to and "ending up in a job you don't tfike.'Var these swikhers, money md pratige came ta be s s n as a poor recompnm for loss of enjoyment of one's work, or a congenial quality of life;, a perceived foss of integ-rity, or a d i ~ n i s h e dsense of identity, Some af these ralimtians are evident in the following acc~unts:
76
Chcliee and I"repar~&n
How could you go thnzugh h t much stuff and not even like it-just doing it in it for the money. for the money"tere% a lot of them still in Ihea-they" They don" t e the m a b h I , but you can get a good job. Qne friend of mine, he% in e l w t ~ aenginmhg l bmause of the money, We really X&es business, but he's stic&g enghwring. (Femle Hispanic enginmhg switeher) You a n " do your best by shying in an a r a b t yauke enoomfo~ble~ t h , or you dtr mf&G-youkrr; never going do wrr;B. Maybe they will earn some money, but &~ of what they wufd b v e done wit31 somdtrring they rmfly liked* (Male Asian-hefiean science switcher) And it's p r a y hard to stick to somding when aU youke fookmg for is four years down the road-not there for youmelf at the marnmt, but Eor something in the future. And you%@not enjoying the exprience ~ g h now t bmause the money and prestige doesn't came untnhen, (Female whik scienw switcher)
I had my heart set on p r e r n d bwause I &ought, "at. I can put my brains to work and m&e a tat of money. "nd that" shat 1 was o~ginaUyt h i n ~ g . I graduaUy r m E d my priohties were really out of whack-that I wouldn't en~oywhat I was doing. (Male Hispanic science switcher) It was held up by everyone as samdhing that was prestigious and wefi-paying. And I &U that kept me going for the fist couple of years. But those goals began to swm mwningless if you don" care for the work involved. (Femak white enginwting svvi&her)
Nun-switchem who d e g f i M the ewphences af their class p r s md roamt lnates also refleered upon -the imdeqwey of g m g m t i c md m t e ~ a l i smotivatium: A lot af people rnalce the misake of going into enginmrkg to make $66,000 when they g& out of school ~ h o u mIizing t the kind of work that goes into it, Vouke got to love enginaring, or be extremely tolerant of it, to get through. (Hispanic male enghwring non-witcher)
My mom-mate was doing gre-m& bmause of the money, and the prestige of being a doctor. ft's p r a y scary if that%what you" basing your happiness on. m i t e female science non-switcher) Lots of people go into mginaring-espial& the ones who drop out-st~ctly for the job p r o s m b . But most of those p p l e are gone by the time you g r ~ d ~bmuse, te really, it%not wodh it! (Laughs,) The ones that 1 know who are going to graduate did it just bmause it was interesting, and it% shat they want to doo,I don't think too m n y people who want it islitialy for the money or a good job redly stick with it, bwause, -in the end, it woufdn" be eo&h it. (Male Hispanic enginw&ng nan-switcher)
es clear, tnateI-iatlist (or pragmatic) motivatiom were not confined to switchers, md 13.9 pereent of nan-swi tchers Oargely enginwrs) also lneluded them as factom in their ehsice:
Cbictr and Plrep~rahn
77
Money is hpmt ta me. Other people may not cam, But, Ikve grow up in a comfamble saing, and when I start my earmr hat's not guhg to be there any mant. But I w n n a g& back to my standard of living--the way I enjoy it. w a l e white non-swhhkg engkeerj The: r a u n I chose enghmhg was b m u s e it was up there. X hamnc=d to be l o a b g through a magazhe, and it was, like, $40,000 or $58,W early in your camr. [Female bhck non-switehhg engineer)
Hawever, switchm were m r e likely than non-switchers ta have influenced by considerations of money, career options and prastig ~witc?hemt m d d to combine t b w motivatians with other, mare skble, for &eir doice. In some ways, the m t e ~ a l i sand t pragmtic emphas 16.2 percent of all students in our sample might seem y &urnMrs. TTtere was, howev had bwn repl ~ a l i smotivations t the basis for m m r goals, 3 5 s W= ~ e c i a l l clear y in svvikhing decisions whme r careers was an impo the greater interest affoded by the new m ~ o or element. This obwmation gives: grounds for optimism that the college experimee wnthues t.o enwurage self-dimvery and the development of independent cribfia for life pnlorlties, ;tn Reesons fir C h o ~ d $,M. ~ g E, M@l;ors The most m r k d difference b w w n the mxes document& in this sbdy lies in the rwsom for their choice of =jars. Women were a b u t @ice as likely as men to have e h o ~ nm S,M,E. m j a r through the active influence of sommne siaificmt to them, h o n g switching women, this faetor account4 for 25.3 percent of all s given for their choices (cf., Table 2,2), but was also strongly discernable a m n g woma who prsistd,. For b t h groups of women, the influence af significmt othem on their cboiee of m j o r was greater thm was the c m both for swikGng and non-switckng men, By contmt, men were almost t.xrim as likely as w m e n to cite '&kg g o d at =themties a d l o r science in high school' W a r a o n for choosing aut. S,M.E, major. Mether they were acwlly M t e r prepard or skilled than w m e n entmts is not the isme, W a t mtters is that m n y mare young man thm young women felt confidant in their r d i n e s s to undertake higher level ~ienw md mthemticrs, Swikhing men stand out, 'both against non-switching men and agakst all vvomen, as more apt to e this the basis for their choice, largely an prmptians of aptihrde for science ar mthematics p r a v d pafiieularly unreliable when caupld with inadquate prior undersknding of the nature of their mjor. The contrasts h w w n switching and non-switching women are also interwting. h well as k i n g more open to the influence of others in. their choiew ,switckng, women were more likely to have chosen an S. M. E. =jar for mteridistic r w a n s md to have a lawex level of intrinsic interest in science
G e d e r Bfferences
78
Choice a d Preparation
thm w m e n who persisM. W s dishetion is grwter among k m l e thm among male switehers and pttrsisters, However, w o r n persisters stand out as more higihly motivatd by interest than m y other group, Women prsisters also a p p r to bc: the f a s t (and women switehers to b the mast) driven by material or pragmtic consideratians.2
Reasons for Choosiitg S.M. E, Mej~rs: Siglzweance for Per~ristencl; It is clear &at shdmts who prsist in their ~ k g i n achoice l of art S.M.E. major are more likely &m switchers to have ehomn their m j o r (mdlor their carer path), at Zmt ta some degrw, by rmson of their interest in it, In only one other category-altmism (which, is cited mueh more rarely)-is the distinction bewwn switehers and non-switcher8 sa clwr. Switchers were much mo1.e likely to have m d e their choices for s not dir~tflycomecteci with the nabre of the a m d e ~ cwork entaited in the mjors they chose, Nokbte among switchers>wons for choosing S.M.E. =jars were: the active influence of others; mtefialistic and pragmatic considerations; feeling their choice to be the logics1 exbnsion of doing well in math andlor science in high school; a d iag with little or no howledge of what the m j o r might entail (either in of the course work or car= alternative$. mere was srtvrisinglp little difference bewwn mitchers and non-switchms in most other factors found to influence choice. The choicw of non-switchers were af so co by instnxmenbt considerations, by the pressures of people close to them, by c o m p r o ~ s ae d by a Einzitd understanding of what might be entailed. However, non-wiieehers were coasistentXy less driven than switctrers by factors other than intrksic hterest. It would seem, therefore, not to mtter tao gratXy what other rmsons sbdents have for their ehoiew, so long rts one strong element in their decision is m h t h s i e internest in the a d e d c disciplines wGch eornpfise the m j o r and in the kinds of work to which they lead. All seven institutions ttmk mthematics sesres (3,A.T. or A.C.T.) into account for adxrnissioa p u p = , enroIXenS freshmen in introductory 3,ltl.E. classes on the basis of mthemtical plamment tmts, and consider4 the S,A.T. (or equivalent) mathematics scores targeted for our sample (i.e., 650 or more) as adequate for entry to an S.M.E. major. If S.M.E. freshmen displaying xnathemti~aleompebnee at this level ar above are expeetd to he capable of understanding the matelial present& in introductory S.M.E. cfmses, the quality of high school mathematics preparation should not have created difficulties seriraus enough to cantribute to witching daisions for most of the students in our mmple. Neither sbould we have found many students who had switched h a u s e of mtlious corxcepml problem in these classes. This proved to be the case: neither inadequale high school preparation (which contributecl to 14.8 % of
Choice a d Preparm'on
79
witching dexisims), nor serious w n w p m l dificulties (which eontxibrtw 12.6g"o)ere m j a r factoxs h witcGng decisions, However, the effwts of h a d q w t a high ~ h mprepamtion l were the most co conttibutor to early daisions to switch. Approximbly 40 p r w t of bath switcbers md nonwikhers rep&& some probiem related to frrigh school preparation;, and around 25 p c e n t of a c b group rep&& caneephl difficulties. Both types of problem were disproprtimately experieod by swdents of eolor in our sample: 25 percent (wmpared with 10.7% of white students) rep&& inadqwte high school prqaratian; and 30.8 percent r e p d cmcep&l difieulties with oBe or mart; S,M,E, dasses (cornpar& with 5.3 96 of white sbdents). We also discover& in dmwing our samples n institutions had a d ~ t t some d sbdents of mlor with =themtics p scores below SW S.A,T. (or quivalent). Tfie cmsquences for t h m students are dlxusseif in Chapter 5, In this section, we discuss the nature of the under-prwaration difficulties rwortntd by shdents. The nahrre of their cancqtual problem are d i s c u s 4 in Chaphr 3 , Studentsbccounb of under-preparation were broadly aF two types: deficiencies of e u ~ c u i u mcontent and subject depttr, and failure to acquire appraprlab s w y skills, habits and attiwdes, However, both face& of underpreparation were, in raXity, in&r-cannwM, Some switchers md nm-switchers had r w i v d no high =hoof t w G n g in calculus, or descriW the content and d ~ t of h their high school science or mtfiematics as ksufficient far their first college cEassecs: X never h& a calculus class before I got here, W a t a s h a ~ kit was! And our physics was calculus-basd too. I was rally struggling: Wat's a. derivative? M a t " an intc;gralu(Male white mathematics non-switcher)
I was s m as a very, very good student at high sehool bwause I wars a; natuml in math. But when I hiid to retake both semesters of caIeuIus, I r a l i z d that my m&h preparation hadn% tbee aaII that good. (FemaXe white science nonswitcher)
Other dimensions of deficiency in content or depth were: lack of laborat-ory exwrience or expsure to computers; no int;toduction to theoretical mterial, or to analytic m d e s of thought; lack of o p p a n i t y to take coilege preparation classes (including Advmed Pfacement); and uneven quality in the science and mthemtics class= in the =me school: earning out af high a c h ~ oI'd l never smn a chemistry lab; never seen a good scale, a r handled any of the apparatus you're expected to use right off. (MaXc white science non-switcher)
I'm going to graduate irz wro this year. But when 1 came in, I'd never seen a computer, I had to ask where the 'oonhwitch was, And E was with people who had been working with computers since they were kids, (Female Hispanic enginwfing non-swit~her)
80
Choke G&
Preparation
Qne dzry in class there was an announament: 'hybody who wants t_a go to college should see: heir counselor and take the SA.?', or A.C.T. "is was my senior y a r , and that's how X lamed about college entv, I didn't do +l on the tests. (Male Hispanic seimw non-switeher) The only tSIing E was good for was caIculus. I had a v e q goad calculus taeher, But evewhhg efse was n w . I was very ups&: X don't think they prepard me for eollege at all, There was A.P. chemistry, but aU we did was phy cards rmd make iee cram. (Female Hispanic enginmhg switeher) a m p l a i n t s of these kh& were not eonflrred ta undergraduates at tbe m r e ~ p n + n t vstab h t i b t i o n s : we hmrd s i ~ l a eomplahts r at the co entry, private rwmrch aniversity :
I don? consider myself to have been well-prepard at all. My math biiekground wasn? as strong as it could have b e n , espially compared to a lot of the p g l e around me. And my physics prepar~tion-god, that was just a nightmare...I had no calculus in high school, f m a n , I enjoy math-but the S+ of the first class was incredible. (Male white e n g i n e e ~ gg ~ t e h e r ) My high schaaf ehemktv elass had no Iabs.,.It was all from books, (Male white scienee sktcher) Everybody got done with mczth in their high sehooI freshman year; the highest we got was pre-calcufus, There vvasn? much hdp if you were w o r b g to a highm goal. (Male white enghmring switcher)
8 studentf accounts of under-preparation without info em,it waufd be hard to pess w ~ e hwere switch d,that mm@ S.M.E. ~ n i s r swere able to overcame thew problem mm Iws p r d i c k b l e thm that they vvould h o r n diwouraged and Xmve. Nswever, as seniors d e clear, the co enea of pcmr high sehsof preparation are seious a d long-lljtstirrg; I suffer& alf through college for things f didn't t o in high sshool, I took algebra, which is all t h v r q u i r d , and never took math the next three years. I blew off a lot of the rmllly significant stuff, and then I had to come here and redo it. X had no real background, f h& no rnath. f am still real sketchy about much of it, I do well as long as I have t h e to work it all out. (Male white science non-sAtcher) 1 was left with a lot of ~onceptualholes. There were a lot of times when f somehow got through t-hings vvithout knowing how. But right from the begkning, h e y addied up. M e n I look4 back, f r ~ l i that d there were pockets of things I did not. b o w t and had never hown-and prohhly never will. (Female white engineefing non-svvitcher)
Et all ante too msy in high school, I thought X cfidn? have to study here either. I stmggled afi cfie f i t ymr to get the whole study thing. I never did quite rwover. (Mab white enginwhg non-switcher)
A more subtle fom of under-prr?pamtion W= having to unlmm a bndency to sew mate~alin mdular fom, without tmsfer, eomwtiang or fmmework: They don't encoumge you to &M a b u t (he material. You work for a test, and then for the next test. And w o r b g for tests doan? t c h you to continuaUy review what you how-which I thhk is one of the keys to farnhg in college. (Male black enginwhg skkher)
$@dents were ofien s h a m to disover how poor their high s h m 1 preparation
had been by campahson with that of other freshen, n e i r abave-avemge cm in stanhrdized tessts gave t h a little indieationaf their achral level of rmdiness far college work. Appr~iationof their deficiencies in study skills and &bib came with their very first fresh X went to suck a smal) high school, Tachers weren? tall that g r a t , and there were no advanced math or college prep cksses-just the basic care clagses up to pre-calculus-which mmnt that I had to start at the bqinning in enginmring, My roam-mak, wha went to a large, suburfaitn school in a walthy a r a , sbrtied with the swond ymr of calculus, and circuik too. I had other friends who were way ahead of me-just because of the better education they had had in high school. (Female whik engkwring non-switcher)
I just kicked back and got straight As-with zero efforl on my part. And I came here thh&ng I was gohg to mast through college like that. In the very fist week, 1 had a tehble eye-opener. There were studentis: sitting all around me that knew what was going on, and f had absolutely no id= what they were taking about, I was complebly last. I was expwted to be at that level the very fmt day. X r a k d I hadn" had any of the stuff at high school that f a&&-like physics, Xd' never even seen a computer. (Mate white mathematics non-switcher) The tmchers that did the worst job were, 1 think, oblivious to the fact that they were not giving us good prepamjition far college.. .X thhk the problem might abo have bmn with the resources that my d i s t ~didn't ~ t have. (Female white science shtcher)
It is difFieuIt ta genemfi2;e about the gyp- af high schools which are more I&ely to under-prepare students for college mthiemtics and science in. ~ u ~ c u l ucontenit m or depth. Hawevtjx, shdents from s m l l rural shaols, large inner-city shoals, reswation whwXs, and p r l y - e n d o w d s h m l s loealed in urorhg-clms a r a s (white or nninority), were those who mast often cited iasui'ficient resources and f i ~ t e daccess to well-qudifid twchers as =lime fawres in their high schosl seien~emd mtbematies ducation: A lot of it comes from the shortage of tmchem with real degrms in rnath and
science, My math classes were aught by somesne with a master" in Phys, Ed, I t h she~ had some sort of bachelar minor in matk. She was w m e at algebra than we were. (Female white mat;hernatics science non-switcher)
82
Choice and Preparation The high school f went to was bachards, to say the last. It was a srnaUi school in a faming a r a in South Texas, Maybe two or three people each year went on to college, and they weren't p r q a r d far anythling. The highest level , a few wwks of preaalculus, and one year of of math I got b was t ~ g and basic high school ghysks taught by a coaeh. I had only one math tmcher who wasn't an athletics coach in my whole time there. (Male whik enginwring non-switcher) f came fmm the worst high school in the city. My physics Wcher used to be
a bus dfiver. He was an h k m s t h g man, but he w s n %a physics tmeher. A goad 40 Frcent of the t h e watch& navy rwntitment films. It was suppsed to be an honors class, but we just kind of hung out bgether and did assignmenb. [Female white science switcher) With my high schoat, it was more of a funding problem. They just didn? have the money to offer calcuIus and A.P. math, I think revenue-sharing will be a big help in the rural Midwest, (Male white engineering switcher)
As we shatl diwuss in Chapter 6 , the consequences of poor conbnt preparation ialfy m ~ o u sfor freshmen of eofar from high schools with lixnited rewurces: There was just so mueh that I didn" l;ow...I felt like I wasn" even in the same game as everyone else. (Male black engineering switcher)
Psar high school preparation W= also experienced as a form of gender d i s c r i ~ n ~ t i oby n . some of the women in the sample: We were the only two girls in our high school physics and efiemistry classes, and the only two who end& up coming here. And we were really discnmin a t d against by our teacher, In all the e x p ~ m e n t she , wouldn't let us touch anything-especially in physics, f m a n , it was totally hands-off to us. I still l&& it, but X wasn? tmrning enough. I was tohlly lost in physics .when f first got here. Chemistry was more equal, but we didn't have mough equipment, Only certain p p I e got pickd to do the experiments, and we last out on that bwause we felt a little timid. We didn't fwl good about being there, 1 didn't say anphing to my mother, beeause at the t h e , it didn't occur to me that anything was wrong. (Female white science non-switcher at a competitive-entry research university)
E v a with g d achers, m able student at a school with multiple social, hmciaX and educational problems was stitl at risk: I didn" rally have to do anything to get good grades, M e n they have kids that have difficulty even gming to sehool, it's hard to cater to the upper level. So they didn" push you; and they didn? prepare you to be ~ e l ~ m o t i v a to td study (kmale white science switcher)
AII of the= students h e w they bad r m i v d a sub-smdard education and most h e w it while they were in high school, m e y felt that the ca
Choice and P~eparcrfion
83
from whj~hthey came, their parenb, and the schools tb finnit& unders-dhg of their whmlsYinadqwcies, However, some students who, in retroswt, saw their high s&wX preparation as h v h g been iaadqwte h& atkndd pnIvate schools, had k n ineludd in spsiall progmrn, or were the rwipime of awards for science: I" sort of against my high school bmause they r n d e a Iat of promises to us. They told us we we= a nationaffy-acknowldgd high school, and it turn& out that no one here r w a g n h d the sekoal at aU. I graduated with a 3.8, but it didn" turn out to be as good a8 somczxtne who had taken A.P* courses at the nc=ighborhood school, (Female white: enginm&g swi@her) It was tremendously avematd I think, you h o w , with hindsight, They looked at my C.P.A., and at the fact I was a MePIt Scholar. But X found the level of work here csmgle~elydifferent from wh& I'd been used to, and E was tot;ally blown away. (Male white enginaring switeher)
I won a science fair hthe 12th grade, and had gone to New York, and thought I was the scientist of the world-r at "least, very bright. h d then, when I didn't do very well in the fmt e n g h m ~ n gclasses, I compl&ely faith in myself, Bwause I reaffy befiwed, for the very first time, that I was stupid. (&male white e n g i n m ~ gswitcher)
I found you couldn" took at how you did in high school, and then twnspose that onto college. I don't place much mel-it in S,A.T, scores. X was National Mekt commended, but my scores didn't mean anything, I took a math class t.a improve my scores, but aU they did was tmeh me jittle tricks, f raised my score by f00 pints, but it didn" m a n anphing+xmpt that I was good at hking tests. (Female A s i a n - h e ~ e a nscimce s ~ t ~ h e r )
SWeints who h& mov& around the country during threir high school ymrs h e w from pemonal experience that there were wide vaiatiatxs b w e n schools in the quality of the mathematics md gienee classes offer4 for callege preparation, nose who had a p e r i e n d high s h s s I mthemtics md science in ather countries were sametimes uneomfo&ble in achowldging they haxf found smdards in U.S. high schwls fio be lower: Going back to my family" h o r n in the Philipphes, I r a l i z d that my pmrs there were doing more science than X ever did. And, you know, they live in the provinces and go to these dinky little schools. It was kind of alarming to admit. (Male Asian-American science non-switcher) The tachers in my s ~ h o a lin Switzerland were rally bto mching. They realIy push& you hard ...I remember once X had a class X wasn" doing very we11 in, and the vice-pheipal eafled me in to Ertk abaut it, That wouldn't happen here, But I guess they don't have the same shndards here. (Male white mathematics non-stvitcher)
However, mast shdents who felt t b t they bad b n mder-prepard were m g r y that they had na way of hawing this was the c m until they a d v d in their first eoflege mthemties or wienee elms,
Fa@@=to &@m G o d S t d y SkUIs and H&ifs %e of the s why sadents' m r w in s m h r d i d mthemtics tests m y not Ire3 usEu1 in prdictkg wha will r e m h and who will Xmve, is that shdenb with a, g d aatzxral a p t i a e for -themtics m y have tailed to learn md disipline n d i e d for college-level work. bokiing how elements h the culare of whoof, home md t d against their a q u i ~ gt h a e m p t s of college stary of this Vpe was recount& by swdents who hacl always found =themtics md slcience w y , k o d " g b grades h thew s@ects with little e;ffa&, md were awustamd to praise from tachers, f a ~ l y axld pwm. Rarely had their mchers ds on their abilities. wt well b l o w their capability, and they had b n AcEevement krgeb had neither strekhed nor e h ed, They did little homework, or did it hawidly ute, md wBre oftm left to their o m &@viewwhile tmhers work4 with the mt af the elms:
X brmed &rough high school vefy easily with high grades. X think a lot of kids that did well in high sehool are gonna eome in and use the same study habits and just get blown away, That's what happened ta me. (Male white mathematie~non-sktcher) I just really didn" tknw how to study, so E had to train myself how to do that here, In high school, X Bidn" really have to try that hard to get good gractes. (Mab white mathematics svvitcher)
X gat thmugk high sehool very easily. I t h it ~was probably a preay poor high school, because I fmishd with a 3.98, was fiRh in my ehss, and yet I hardly studied at aZX. I always worked the night beforeethat% how I got &rough high school, it always worked-piwe of G&@. X think this was a problem a lot of us experienced, (Male white t'enginwring non-miteher)
I came out with elose to a 3.8 wi&out ever having to put much effort into it. And so I never famed the indepth study sEUs that are r ~ u i r dttt do well here, (Male white s~ieneenon-switcher)
Being singld slut as 'talented and gift&kould also be counter-productive to laming good st-udy habits: I got a sate science scholarship to come here, but I had problems in my ftrst year. I hadn" ever mtly studied, If I need something du~t-ing a test, I derive it. (Female white seienee non-s~teher) Having the 'blented and gifM%g put on you is a, huge handicap. You have too mueh free time, but no one ever t w ~ h mwhat to do with it. X mean, 1
Choke and Preprafion
85
never really learned to study, or how to approach problems. X suppose they &ougfit I just h e w , (Mate whi& enginmhg switcher) M%en I wits young, I vvm in all these 'blenM and giMklasses. I used to be hpmsse8 by it, but E'm not any more, I never a p n d a book in high s~hool-my fa&er sziys he didn't tither, Aaer class, we went home, play& amutnd. 1 pmblobly never did any homebwk&baE, ate dhner and sc work. My Wekern didn't like it that E didn't work, but f kept scofing high on the tests, so they couldn't say anything to my dad. And X still came out of high school with a 3.7 average and over ?W in my m&S.A.T. Six ymrs later, en&e&g s ~ k h e r ) I'm still l a m h g how ta study. w a l e S w d a t a who were mthemticallty gifted, but who ha$ l m m d to under-ahieve, were at high risk of iibmdorming their plans for S.M.E. =jars at a very early sbge-tbt is, s m n after their first experience of hwkg to p r d u c e farge amounb of work at ,@S snd of rweiving the first naa-A grades of their lives. They descriw an ego4hsis m n afier college entry, in which they felt angry t o w ~ r dtheir high s h m l s , and &gm to quwtion their interest o r ability for eolf ege-level work:
I was very i U - p r ~ a r d I, had gown rafly disenchant& k t h high s~f1oofand just 88t0pM tqing, Here you hmediately hit a sheer change in the way you have to work, You n d organimtion, way more organimtian sk3ls. God, that's the bigest thing. (Mafe white science switcher) X didn" t a w f would have to work that hard. I'd never had to. Nothing had p r q a d me for this. In fact, I didn" t o w how ta work. Once I feX1 behind, X had na id= what to do. (Male white science non-switcher)
X did weU in math through high school and got aU As, and always felt eonfirfent about it. And then when I took ealeulus here, it was a nightmare, (Male: white seienm non-switcher)
f studid minimalfy, and gradwM at the top of my class of 27Q stude-nts, And E thought, 'Hey,1I"mrmdy to t&e an the world.%d X was from NW York, and when X got hem my head just spun. I mean, X eouldn % believe all the WO& thc=y e x p t e d . (Male white sciaee non-s~tcher) That" one of the things X kinda resent &out my high school, Caleulus was so msy-evemhhg was so msy. If I had had mare challenge in those chssm, I would probably not have decided to pursue it, because I would have found out arlier that i hahad no m 1 inbrest in science-just in the good grades, (Femle white science switcher) A lot of kids come hem Like I did with upper-7W math 3.A.T smms and straight As, and evevone h high school buildkg you up as somectne s p i a l . And then you hit coliege, and its suddenly very humbhg. Some p p l e never get off theit h w s , (Mab Hispanic enginw~ngnon-s~tcher)
Choke and Pirpration
86
Again, from the content of under-preparation stories alone, it is hard to guess which students had switch&, and w ~ c had h sby& in their mjor. This also illustrates our contention that there is little to distinguish swilebers and nmswitchers at this level of ability in of ohjeetive %risk factorsv. ff we consider attrition ars ai s (as a p p d fro a sktic phenomenon without context or chronology), it becomes clear that one of the first groups of s a d ~ n t to s b lost are those who have h b m a l i d the attitudes of tachers, &dent with achievemnt, As bfight, but ly mder-prepard) freshmen, they almost iately discover the gap behueen their incoming expectationsand the reality of their q a e i t y to p r f o m as r q u i r d :
"
I came to university &inking, know how to do physics and calcuIus,bnd I'd be Elbte to breeze through the classes without rally studying. And I b o w it rally hurt me having that background, (Male white enginmring switcher)
They m y complain, with g d r w o n , that .they had na way to b o w how poorly they h& bmn prepard. Havhg lamed to judge th by tExe high grades they r e i v e d , they have no psychological defclinses against lower grades. Viewhg grades as an acknowledgement of their blent, ratbm than as f d b a c k , a guide to progrms or a reward for effort, they had little exgeaience of copfag with fmstration or st=t-bwks, campar& with less bfentd pwrs who always had to work. Thus, students with strong ability in mthemtics m y , pardaxieally ,beeome early tties of the W&-out sysbm: I knew a gal from a small town who was a super-s&r in her local high school, h d she and I were both stmf;l;Iing h this ealeulus class-but I hadn" had math for 10 y a m . She was rally geaing down on herself bwsuse she wasn't pulling As when she thought she should be.. .l don't know what happen& to her. (Female white e n g i n a ~ n gnon-swikher) Some people thought their high school preparation tvrrs very good. And then when they got here, they reafizd it wasn?. I had the exact oppsite-I knew 1 had a t e ~ b l malh e background, but I worked myself to dath. (Male Asianh e h m n engineering non-switcher) A tat of people that ga into engineering are straight A students, And then they get the first exam back with a 40 or 50 grade on it-and it's deevastating, These are people that have never seen anphing bcitow a 95, (Female white enginwring svvit~her)
Almost one-quarter (24.2%) of our whole sample, 33.9 percent of switchers and 12.5 percent of non-switchem, reported a fall in their level of confidence caused by expectation of high (or easy) grades, and their shock at receiving the lower grades that are traditional in introductory S.M.E. classes. Twenty-three percent of switchem reported that this had contributed to their decision not to
czuatinue in the giences. The sufvivors d e s T i M their stmggles to overcome the blow to ego: Hi& school w s a piwe of e&e f"or me, I mean, it all came naturally, and I did good, you bow-and it &Us me I'm smart. And I came here and fail4 my f i t exam, I'd never fag& a test in my whoie life. I'd never failed anything. I went home and e ~ d - v e r a stupid test! I got As on the rest of them, but I still got a C bmusr: I failed the first one. I went and taLkeci to the hstmctar md said, 'Are you sure you can't give me a B ? W e said, 'It's not that you don't descnse one, but the numbem don't work out." wag really upset, But you gott-a sbnd b a ~ kand say, 'Well, I just chokd on one test. 'But you can imagine, if youke 18 and you g& to college and you get a G when you're used to geaing As.. .And there" no one there to say, WeVr=IIEve , years from now, It" sot going to matter."Female white enghwring non-switcher) Your self-estwm bkes it heU of a beating. But, eventuaHy, you just laugh and say, 'Iused to be smat"c: now l h m C student;."Fernale whik science nonswiteher)
g m t to inteqmt gradcjs; as prmaal criticism wgs crjtical to surviving t adquately grepard them for colthe discovery that liege-in telfeelu;tIly, o skills, discipline, ox grade expectation. AI(hough failure to shock of under-preparation, p r se, cantribuM to only 14.8 prcent of witchkg decisions, approximtely 40 prcent of both switchem azld non-switchers descfibd a stmggle with problems c r m t d by under-prepamtiaa, umXIy from the very first wwk in college, n o s e who drop* out. ar fail4 efmses bwause of under-preparation-mmy of them in the first wave af attrition, Some of thaw who r e p ~ that d t h q were still coping with aspwts of under-preparation tirom high school.
1. These obsewations are s u p p f l d by Humphreys and Frmland" findings from their 1992 study of rention among freshman engineers at Berkdey: that student;s who mitebed from enginwfing m t e r 4 their msjor with significantly higher verbal scores than non-sktekers. 2. As- a group, female switchem contained both the highest proportion of students who chose S.M.E. mil;jars for materialistic rmsans, and who either chose or switch4 majors in pursuit of altiuktic goals. However, there ~ t a sno instance of a female switcher or non-switcher who repadd both t y p s of motivation.
The Learning Experience in S.M.E. Majors h this chapter, we presat four a ts of our findhgs that dmcfibe the cbarackr of the exp~ence;of S,M. B. uadergdmtes afs lamers, We discuss: es th? s@ienws 'hard'; the nature md conqaencm of tditional m;the role of dvising, eomseling, and of the tacher;.lmmer relationstrlp in pmisknm and s w i k b g . 2%
Nagare of C o n c e p ~Mffica&s l
t fa=@ of the+l a d n g expfience by the "hardams. " Swikher~someti d =riM =p& of their "too hard," and ssme non-swi&hem s p k e of the "hardne;ssmof their discipline when explaiaiag the loss of cl=-mks, %oughaut b e inbwievving prowgs, berefore, we mught to clad9 exactly what aur info ts ==g whm they u d &me wards. Feeling ovewhd e shmr volume of mt~?TjaI, it ww p , and by mnwptual diffieutties muplecl with the pace at w ~ c h "hardnms* m e y coatrikluted to 34.9 percent of switching decisions and were mentioned as a problem by 45.4 percent of switchem and by 41.4 percent of non-switchers. Conceptual difficulties (of seveml kinds) contrihted kr a smiler proportion W.69t;) of switching decisions. They were 26.8 percent of all witchers' concerns, and were descriM by a comparable p m p ~ i o
[email protected]%) of non-switchem. The experienw of conmp-l difficulties, and of prablems relatexj to curricular pace and load, was often linked to inadequacy in high school preparation. Sbdedents who were substantially under-prepared reported more conceptual problem and feelings of being ovenvhelmed in the early stages of their -jar. We met students in this prdmment an every earnpus. Also on
TBe Learning &perie~ce
evev campus, we fornet e m d i a l a them smdenb ;so catch up with thei
89
m e m y e r this hvaXv& students , at the =me time as
m impssible mk: If you have a cmddy tra~kpundin m&md science, you" renot going ts X1.c: able ts suffer through what you" gonna have to suffer &mu& to h m what you should have lam& before you eame h@ ~schoal,M then, on top of that, t q h g to do the same work as evevane else who was her p s p a d than you. (Mate whi& seienoe swikher at wmFitiv try private: m s ~ m b university) 1 tried to take that remdisl malh class at the same time that f was Uing the f ~ s levd t mainsmm class. Then I took the intm class again, and this the, 1 thou&- I urould try to b c h myself the ma&hal X didn" have. I aka had Eo take differential qutttions that semmter ta keep up with the sequence. Xn the end, I kthdmw from that and sW@ going to the math ctsss half-way through. I'd bit& several tests by then. XE was just too discaumging ta start from so far behind. mere% sa way you can catch up if you don't t m e in ready to go, I don't Gare haw smart you are. (Male whlte etnginmfing
s*tcher) Swdeats with this kind of experience were prone to early witching decisions. They wmetimas d s r i l B their difficulties as "concepWl," but they m mare prapriy m n ss the remit of high s h m l mder-prepemtian an the one hmd, and failure to devise realisticbhdging program on the other. Bridging programs am be negotiated betwmn college S.M.E. departments and junior or co colleges and offer guaranteed college entry once students achieve m agreed level of wmptency in mtlege mthemtics md sciwce, If we lay aside the accounts of students in need of a bridging program, and consider accounts which focus on pace and l a d ism@, W are left with a smaller number of accounts (26.0% in the mmpfe overall) which explore difficulties which cm proprly be called 'coneephl? $&dents deserib wnwpml prabrem ss strr"sbg fram a n u m b r of murcm, The abstract ar &wrefieal nabre of the mate~al(=pially W studenth; move fu;Hher into the discipline) i s m i m p m t t y p of difficulty, $&dents who rwaunt &is kind of problem k o r n e smek at the p i n t at which tbey csltli no longer ' s e e k h a t is being discussred, nor relaw it by aoalagy or m h p h a r to something 'real' in the world: Pwple have a hard time with organic chemistry beeause they have a hard time visualizing it. It was hard for me _atfirst too bwause you can% t:stx: it, touch it
a0
m e Learning kperience or fw1 it-it's not real. And W n g it on trust is just one of those big steps you have to take in any scienw, (Female whik science non-switcher) I had trouble v i s u a k g caXcuIus a k r a ce-h level. I m a n , once youke in the third dhension, youke not wr&g an paper any more. Anif &en it shiRs into a fou&h dimension-that;" entkely beyond your hagination, (Female white mathematics switcher)
A seeond ~ n of d problem arism from t b squentiaf way in which an mderswding af mthematicaf or s~ietltifiepriacipXes is built up. At every stage, the prwentation of new m b ~ a p1m 8 the risk that it of be comprehend& udess sufficient prior fmrning has taken, place: X was never rally comfo*ble with any of it. In fa&, my entire life, I've kind o f slid through science. M e n I w s doing expenmmts, I didnt rally know
what was going an. I somehow managed to f&e my way through about X7 years of math and scienee. Eventually, you hit a point where you just can3 go on without that solid understsznding to pull on. (Female white enginee~ng swiklrer]
Sometimm, twhers ~ s j u d g the e dis-ee students can leap front, one IeveX of comprehension to the next, S b d a t s for whom this gap is tw g r a t may be in j w p d y u d w s hrttlrid help is at h a d : The junior y a r was just intense, It was too g m t a step up for me front sophornorework. The gap b&wn the physics and chemistry foundation Xayer, with all the labs and the calculus, then up to the first chemical enginmdng classes, was a huge jump. Luclrily for us, so many pmpXe had droppd out by that stage we were able to get some help. (Female white enginw~ngnonswitcher)
h o t h e r End of wnwp-l difficulty relatd mare to taching methods tfim to the nawre of mterial, per se, is fmding the class work (including the homeW&) comprehensible, but not the problems presented in Wts. (T%e issue of %f' b h m n class eonknt and tmts is d i s u s d iater in this chapter,) only v i w l i their ~ conmpml progrms as a ii&d series of k i g h t s &at are strengthened by remlar problem-solving. Insights are usually d e s c r i w as "getting it." &me sadeats break through to insight by working a large nurnber of problem that exemplify the phenomena to be mastered. For others, insights 'just happn'; they are m n as a mysterious and inexplicable gift:
You can be hught to manipulate numbers, and be able to use them. But you can't be taught the promss that allows you to come up ~ t the h answr just like that. (The s w e r snaps his fingers,) (Mak white enginw~ngswitcher)
ShdentnS;were dividd O V the ~ imue of whether or not it was passible to s u c c d in an S.M.E. m j o r without a level of nalural ahifity greate:r than that rquired
to enter the mjsr. S o m saw insight ;is gained mainly by d e t e ~ n a t i a nmd effaF*l: I th*, basically, everybody &at has acqukd the necasary skills to come here has the ability to survive. Then it's s matter of being willing to get through the day-today ~ t u aof l the hard classes. (Female white science nonswiteher)
Otbm mw insight as a mtter of having sufficient time to abmrb the iderts p r e m t d to you: Wen X was dokg physics, I tried so hard, but just couldn" ssec=mto get: it. Then, the other clay, just for curiosity, I sat and work& out some of my old problems. And I could do them alt. I think it was just a matter of time to think about it. So now I kind of wonder if I went back into enginering if 1 could maybe do it-and even do well. (Female white engineering swikher)
Hawever, for those who could only 'get i t 9 y devoting ensmous amounts of time to the prmess, their slamess to grasp mterial coanpard with the rest of the clinss bwarne m ahsoiute BaMier to continuing in the major: E had to get it more from rading the book over and over, I wasted a lot of t h e rading and rading. I eould undershnd the book, but not the classes. X felt the professors were just sb~lpilythrowing it up on the board. Xf one day in feeture I was tohlfy bst, I'd go home and study all night, and come back to class the next day, h& maybe the meher would go over a IittXe bit of what she'd cover& the day before, and that would help me catch up too. (Male Asian-herican engineekg switcher)
W e n students who are stmgglirtg ta undersmd m k i a l at a pact;: which. is fmter thm they cm absorb it, anid earnufiter this difficulty in more than one subjwt, they are likely to f ave: I switch& bec-ause X couldn't g& either the maa, or the physics as quickly as a lot of the other gmple. (Male white enginw~ngswitcher)
Sbdents imgery of eonwp-l progrms o h n includes the notion of mental blocks. n w e were partrqed as fairly prdickble erisis points in understanding wfi& m n y l a m m e x p t e d to encounhr and ovmame with insight-bowever gained. Students were again divided into nYo amps of opinion-one tllitist, the , group believed other demwratic-abut the nature of e a n w p h l b a ~ e r s One everyone had natural I i ~ t to s their abililty: pwple who fail& to overcome intelfectuaf crises, despite dete~natioxzmd ego&, had probably rmchd their a m padieular conceptual wall: Being in the g i M and &lent& program, I gat a good basis. But then, I just dad-end&, That" as close as Z can come to explaining it. You really can't expand your mind any more than up to a eemin limit, I hit a shge where
anything was difficult, and where I mkd this w s as far as X would go.
(Male white engheeing s ~ t e h e r ) As it gat mare and
mare s m o v d from rwEty--mare theoretical-I lost that
f w h g of discovery and undersknding of the world. h d , at the same time, I was stmafidlgwith the m%,I was still gmhg Bs, but I wu1d feel like the
insiglnks werent tmining any more. (Male white seience switcher) m sumauntThe other group believed that all, at m s t , conceptual b a ~ wwe ab1egivtf.n a emin level of ability and a d e r n j c preparation, d m n t t e a c h g , sufficient time, md help from faculty, T*A.s, or peers. Seiniors rmalled their stmggles with padicular menbl blacks. n o u g h , at the time, seemed impossible, mce the insight was gab&, the concepts m m & obvious mcf f a ~ l i a r : Some of the stuff is just plain hard. Et's obvious that the professor understslnds it very well. And later on, you do too, But, at Ethe time, it's IIike being in thkd grade trying to undersbnd multiplication, In the third grade, that multipljcation" s hard cancqt. And the professor has forgotkn that it was once diffieutt for him, and he doe~n"=member why you h d it so hard. (Fernrile whitr: seienee non-switcher) mougb. the nahre of conwph1 baTX"iers md the ways in which hsiplrb are gained were d i g u s s d by students on every ampus, on o ~ l ytwo campusrjs did they offer the t h m q that evevone has their a m absolute wcaneepmal wall which, sooner or later, bloeks their progrms. One of t h w was the large East Coast skte university where we also found the gratest va~ationin high school prepamtion among freshmen, and the mast unworhble m m d i d program for thow who enter4 under-prepard. The other wm fhe phvate university they could with covetitive entry where %&dentswere well-aware that, have k c a n high-achievvers at their own state instihrtion, at this university they were pitted agaiast ctsss-mates with abilities grater than their own. maugh we can offer no evidence m e .way or the other ta wppoit or rehte the r a l i v of absolute conceptual barriers to intellectual progress in science or mathematics, we note that blief in the existmce of su onseqslencm-bth for the philosophy on which fa~ultyb w the for sbden&?respn;s-es to blocks to conceptual progress. What we can assert on the basis of these data is that conceptual barriers, per se, are not a major cause of switching among students at this level of ability,
Pr~blemsof CumgculrcmPace and Work bd When students speak of the 'hardness' of S. M. E. majors, they are referring, more than anything, to the large volume of work required of them, coupled with the high speed at which it must be completed. Over one-third (34.9%) of t of S.M.E. cuiculutn stnteture among their swigchefs included this reasons for switching; and similar proportions of both switcherg (45.4%) and
non-wikhem (41.4 %) fomd the p m and work load of their S.M.B. mjom %ard% this %am. mase whom ~ g s hh m l pmparatian md study habib were insuacient for &leg@-level wark wen: among the earliest victims of W& who md them to abmrb, mtefial: I was just as&und& at the qwntity of work-vewhehed would be a good word for it. I was just stunnd. w a l e whib enginee&g nan-s&tcher)
,in p p l e % mhds, ehembw is a hard subj&. Once you get over that, in an enomous amount of mak&t. I you are stitl f a d with b v h g to mmn, the dkciplhe it ~ e to study s and k q good gmdw in chemistv was the h c d i b l y big jump I had to make. (Male whik s ~ i a e non-s~tcher) e I gums what m&es it hard is bath the inkuwtual g m p n d e b , and the tremendous votume of work-=pially eoming from high sehoal. It%just We from a f i hose-alt this stuff you%@ewer seen befare in your E&. And them's son@of the pmonal a w t i a n yo usexi to in high school. The pace i s just inedible. You either sink or s : and a lot of them end up s ~ i n g (Male . white science: non-swikher)
abut "overtod, " they referena w e d biRerent m e n shdents ts of eunriculum d, as we11 as the practiw and attibdes which ort them, b their first ymr, sbdents found they had unde*en ta, w a r n s in mthemties and scienw. This h a p p e d beeam they did not ow what wtss ixlvolved, md followed &e suggmtiom of advimrs, or the idmt timebble laid out in the course squaw guide, beforts c h e c b g these They nx&e you @e t-oo many courses. Xf X h d n V h ttad such a bmvy load in my fre-shmaxx y a r , and struggld so badly with just the- weight of it 2111, I'd probabb still be in enginwhng today. (Female; white: enginee4ng switch@ I was t ~ h tog take too big a load-l8 credits. My advisors pushed me. You just felt kind of crummy if you didn? t k e at least 17 credia. (Femle whik Gginmring switcher)
Shdenk quickly l m m d that the challenge facing t h ~ mwm not only inteXlwut; it wm also physical md moml. To survive the eotlsbnt round of assimments, problem sets, tests, lab WO& and reporthi required by several warns s i m u l ~ m u s l y ,GIW work had to take p over all other ducational interestst persoad relationships, athletic paid ennplayment, leimre and sfeep: It was just ecrnstant. You always had to prepare for class, or you" dose it, It was constant qukxs and checking hat you were on top of tfiings, If you miss& a day of lab, you couldnt make it up. You just had ta work all the time, and you never got a bra&. (Female Hispanic science switcher)
I value my s l q . And I found this physics class uras k w h g me up until 3:W a m . every night, just to get eveehing done. W e n I finally drop@ it, it was the happiat day of my life, (Female whik science witch er)
~
Students disaveretd that the cun;ieulum structure did not s ~in de~irfing e s w b t e l w e s to take, the queniee in which g of class-t=swhich bad provd difficult: I came in wi& a good G.P.A., and a math S.A.T. seore of "I. But X ended g the swond physics class over because X'd got a C, Xt was a passing grade, and I could have: gone on tct the next level, but X didn? fmt adequately prepard. I got a B the swoncf time, but by then I w s a p a r behind and looking at a five y w r schdule-that" if I on schdule the rest of the time, which I began to doubt, (Male white enghwhng switcher) Once you have to r a k e any course in engineefing, youkre doomd. There's no way you can ever catch up. (Male white e n g i n ~ r i n gswitcher) In my saphornore ymr I droppd circuit theory, which imndiatefy put me a ymr behind, They have h11 courses and spring murses. Xf you miss any one of "em, you "re a year b&ind, So that's when X first sCafid to think about switching. (Male whik engbwring switcher)
There was also no atlowmee for illness, accident, or the death of it f a ~ l y membr. ShFdents who a d d more time thm wm allow4 to t h i d about class mtedal were exasprat4 more with the: p ~ thm w with the amount of the work: V e ~ r - zoology asks just as much as c h e m i s t ~ X .t takes just as much. t h e and comprehension, but I understood it and put as m u ~ hefforl into it. But with chemistry, they took it way too fast. Et wissn? the amount: of work. I don? mind vvorking hard. But I want mare tirne to absorb it. They are both hard subjmts, but I can't see: why one had ta go so mueh fasbr than the other. (Female white s~ienee:non-switcher) They allow you one semester under 12 hours-and that's your whole carwr, There" some peaple who t&e I7 or 19 hour%.I think they ?G emzy, They try to juggle, but evesrrtualfy they burn out, I'm not willing to do that, X want time to think about what; I" doing. (Mafe white enginm~ngnon-switcher)
The suspicion that the paGe in sarne classes was m d e deIibmtdy faster than was rally rtmessary was fairly widesprmd: There" just too much work the first two y a r s . The amount of pressure they put on you is mostly to see if you can stand up to them, not to make sure you undershncf what you're doing. I think it's kind of dersignerf that way to W& v p l e out, It's all a big test. (Male white enginwring non-switcher)
t d that at last some of the high volume of work Hawever, m i o r s also ded by their disciplines arose intrinsically from the naturr: of the task at
m e Learning fiperienee
9.5
hand. They could often clarify the different kinds of 'hardness' they had meaunter& in particulaf subjeeb, clmws, or types of nraterial: Calculus is the kind of thing where, unless you do the problems over and over again, youkre not going to get it. It's not just memorization: you have to know haw to do it, Cendics is a hard class too-for many of the same rmsons, You just have to do so m n y problems just to undersbnd it-that's mostly what makes those classes hard, (Rmate white science non-switcher)
You can eau analFic chmistry a; W&-out coume, But X don" think it% aas hard as anha].m11 physiology. That" s harder ehss conceptualty...Now, with organio chemistv-if you jud put your mind to it, it% a lot of time mare than anything else. (Male white sciencr: non-switeher)
Cumicula designs were faulted for creating unnecessary 'hardness' where mterial was not prwntecl in a logical sequence, or more c0 there was insufficient co-ordination with the syllabus structures of supprting disciplines-ogen mtbemtics: It% very difficult to do the physics when it's s&ng use of m a t e ~ a lthat youkte not going to get for another month in cafcutus. (Male white enginering non-switcher)
Beyond basic classes, the pace a d valume of elass work continued to expefience of S.M ,E. =jars "ard-gfit through to senior yar: You think you%e been working hard aas a freshman (laughing), but now you walk inta 300-level classes and theykre moving thrw to four times as fast, and c o v e h g infornation which youke expeeted to get out of a book. And you're c o v e h g two or three chapkm a day. I mean, I don" want to be spoon-fed, but I also don't want to be so ovemhelmed and so frustrated when X get behind, that there's no time to think about what youye doing-or why, (Male white seience non-switcher) He's tremendously oveworked-and has bwn for aU four years. You know, I'll go to bed, and w k e up, and he's still wrIring. He had eight all-nighters recently, Last semester smrned to be worse, He'd get maybe thrw hours" s f w , and then the next night, he" gat another prqject, so he" have to manage with three hours again. And it's sever abate$ right to this semesg his ter-which is his last, (Male white engineeri-ng switcher, s p ~ n of e n g i n m h g room-mate)
We s k e d studmts to give examples of what exactly they lwnd unremanable a b u t their work load, Their mwers included the following: In my first enghwring elass, we were r q u i r d to do 18 programs and thrm different hnguages over the semester. We w r e given algohthms to use far each program and just one week, to complek mch of them. And, though w e went to all the labs, we weren%given any matefial. We were just expected to
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h o w so much h t , if somssne wasn%w a g to explain it to you, then you couldn't do the progmms. (Male black engbnwhg switcher) say, This is the k f i o o k far this class, but you should also Some profs go and r a d &ese five or six refernace booh.%And that" s s b g a bit mueh when you%e got six other classes. If they aU did that, you*d have 30 to 4Q books a semestep ta re&, (Mate whik e n g h w ~ n gswikher) In physics, they will test us for the few &hgs that they tt.lhk are h p r &nt-but they don't t U us what hose are until a&er the m t , I suppse they want you to see aU this oaer stuff in ease you go on to g& a Ph.D, Qnee you%@smn it, it's met-asierthe s m n d t h e araund. But what about the rest of us? Thb is supposed to be an undergraduak degrw. [Male white science nonswitcher)
The w i n foci of aeir camplab& were: doubts a b u t the Eagic behind the choice or balm= of padi~ularmatefitzls in the curriculum; failure to teach (or to test) what had b n chomn; failure to distinpish b h w n mtedals of variow degrw of si@fiwm; md, failurn to W-ordhate with callwpes in pl either the sqmenee af prmnktion, or a coherent msimment and mssgment strategy, h the view of m d e r g d m b s , all of these result4 in unnecessary overload: I mmn, there" too much mate~aiin I Wlevel dasses, Does it all n d to be eaverd-or oovcr4 in such detail"! lot of it is just syUabus stuffing, I'll give you an example. In the f i t inorganic frmhman chemistry class for engineers, they quicHy rstn over some stuff, Later, in an fronors organic with a professor who adored quantum mwhitnics, I rmh& t b t tfiose quatians we had s c u ~ over d as freshmen w e n actually rehtd-in a very dishnt way-to the quantum mmhanics he was Wching, Xf I hdn't just happned to have a professor interest& in this field, would I, in a ziKan yam, ever have u s 4 h d &ere were 8. whole that litile wmer of howldge? The answer h, 'NNO.' lot of things fie that-t-hhgs which you never use-that they just tried to cmm in. (Female white engbee:&g non-s&teher)
est type of complaint, whether from milehers However, by far the co or nm-switchers, conwmd the relationship b e W w clmm md labratory work, p&&icularlyUte disproportiona&ly smll amaunt of crdik labs rweived, given thei large amaunt of t h e they tCEQkto complete: Labs, labs. That's the key thing, nag ?J it.! n q k e just terrible, The field gwbgy course gives only four credits, but p p l e spnd 40 hours a week on it, (Female white sci.ence non-swikher) One rason for chnging my mdor is that 1 sspe-nd m o ~of: my t h e prepa~ng for labs &an X do f'or lmtures or assignmenb. But they are only one crdit for a threhour lab. ('Femalewhite science non-switcher)
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I've spent more t h e in those one- or m o - e d i t bb classes than in all the other classes eombind, It's a big commitment of time for a small amount of e d i t , I thirtk they do that so they can stay underneath tkte 45 crdit-hour Emit. Last semester, f Eaok a one eredit WO-hour lab a d s p n t very little time outside the lab--and that" what they encourage. The professor h a w s it% unrasonable., He says, 'Thb should be an eight-hour class; but there" aalf sees of politics hvsolvecl,"Female white science nm-switeher) And it doesn't even m&e any sense. ln enginee&g at the 361)- and 4W-level, about what they expect for exactly there" sso much vafiation b ~ w wurses n the same crecli&. Just incrdible amounts of work in s o m e l i k e a 32 page reprl, every wwk-just unnecessary work loads. (Male Hispanic enginadng non-switcher)
Physicg 12"3---atQmic physics-it's insane the amount of work you have to do. It's supposed to meet five hours once a wwk, but it Boesn?. It ~ e allsof your time-all for three credit hours. And you have to produce two papers and submit them for publication. It% one of the rmsons I finally dropped out of physics. (Male white science switcher)
Faculty were faultd for ntming labs on a syllabus different from that of the class, and for ~xpeetingtbteir rmwreh assishnts to teach extm syll&us mbrial: In organic chemistry, the pmfs look at them as two separate cksses.. .Youpm trying to Iwm techniques which are bbltly different from the course mate~al, There" some overla~;tpingmaterial, but the T.A. is s u p p s d to cover both. And he can't. He's s f m d y got to mver the infornation for the lab, So now you are out an your own-sink or swim, I think that" the biggest problem. There" where we raUy stadd to lose people. (Male whik science nonswitcher)
m e r e were three w p b of work demnds which contributd most to swilcbg. First came feeling ovewhelmed (experiened by sbdents who were wel-prqard, and more acutely, by those who were not). Second, swdenb expefieacd a dtowward spiral out of the m j o r fusustlly within two mmeskrs) which began by their falling behind in a particular class and attempting to repeat it. The third factor was a growing awarmess that staying in the m j o r hvolved ing a choice about the kind of educational expe~encethey really wanted. The volume and pace of early classes also conveyed the mesmge that to fouovv seienee entail4 giving up whatever else in life students valued, including full padicipation in college: life, The iherent imbalance of S.M.E* curficula ww critical in the daisions of these switehers: It's rwlly rough when they won't Xet you add a class outside of your field bwausc you can% get. the dertn" approval. I couldn" believe that I wasn't r q u i r d to take arry kind of English class, I wanted to h k e it, and they kept refusing me. I think th&% one of the things that pusfies people like me away. (Female white mathematics switcher)
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Ih mare cambdble g a IS erdig-hour load, w o r h g a 20 hour wwk, and having a lisle t h e for a few othw things. It% h a v h more: of a sense of
balance, and g a h g a fuUe~ducation, If all you%@doing is studying one thing for four or five yeam, how do you h o w who you am when you're done? (Pemale white mginwhg switcher) wth all the cfasses that are gganna be q u k 4 for you to graduate, you staft to wonder if you are ever going to fit in anythhg that you want to study. That's when it becomes ovcrwhehing, The p p l e who fulish g& gosd jobs, but you wonder how m u ~ hof a life they hava;... X think, unless &ey give you more f r d o m , theykxe just ganna lose more good p p l e . (Female white
mathematics switcher) As thwe extracts suggest, the perception that one could only s h y in the: sciences at the e x p w of other valued parts of one" life was signifimt in the switching y wamn. W y this should, be sa is discuss4 in Chapter S , em refleet& in %the problem icekrg' was premntd in our rrts along with a wt of intemejatd concerns. In all descriptions of the Factors leading ta the daision to leave or to shy, we found a "ush and pull' thought p r o m s at work, Fmliag ovewhelmd by cuMieulum demmds was o&ea the b g i m i n g of a p r m s s in which students questloneid the wisdom of their initial choiw, and begm to thi& about other possibilities. The d e b t e with self, and with others, about whether a r not this was the right carwr path ~ g h t continue for Wo semesters, or two ywrs. However, it was always a complex mtter, and inrvofvd issues of identity and ir weighing of costs, benefits and alternatives, This prwess w a almost always m d i a t d by others: i n d d , the need far a infomd mdiatar ww ofien the impem to smk heIp from faeulty or advisors, The fmaf deeision wm oi'ten shaped by deadlines in the Gourse ealenhr, provokd by a "last straw-neident, or m t t l d by the critical intementim of anoher permn, The typical s h a p of the decision-making process (ieitially prompted by fwjings of overload) was that of a dovvnwrd spiral w ~ ~ U hR ~,~ Seffective S help a d &vice were found, brought. ;t quick end to the agony: Most. people, onee it spirals, it just gets worse and worse. Not that they can't stop it. They can, I mean, if somehody intervenes in that process to help you. But, usuatly, it just accelerates.. .In thrm quarSers, you can be finished forever. Its kind of tedble, It." rally up to you to take the initiative to try to talk to sorneane, but then eomes the question, ' m a t do you really want?TTht;n comes the seeond quaeer, and if you still don't do so well, you're an probation. So by the third quafier, you could be finish&-if yoti don%want it bad enough, (Male black enginm~ngswitcher) M e t h e r one "wan& it baci enough" is one of a number of csitieal issues usually h c l u d d h reflwtions on curriculum ovewhelm. Qther inter-comeeting questions are: will the effort of getting an 3,M.E. degrw ultimately be worth
it; what b d of a iifmtyle do caram imply; will there tw suppart through other how fang will it a e to grduate, md how ta tling more out of life iin college, aad byand, possible with an S.M,E, degrw, studeats aught in this dowward spiral stmggled to reconcile their low g d e s and feerings of ovewhdm with a depleteal Ense of mIf-wo&h or to reeat their a r w r options in the light of other talermtr;or intermt. Enginw&g saderxts were at gmter risk of swikhing than other S.M.E. =jars for s r d a u to euMi~lsXurxzaverlode P x e afld load issues were a fwtor in 145.1 percent of the switching decisions of ewineering sltldentis (cornpar& with 25.0 pezcent for science and mtbemties majors), and r & d s e e d among reamas cotributiing to switching among enginmhg mjors. They were raisd as issue5 of Goncern by 55.0 percent of all enyineefing switchers (coazpared with 35.9 p r w n t for schw aad mthemtics switchers), and half (51.5%) of all enginwhng seniors (cornpar& with 33.7 percent af science and =themties mniors), Curneat and famer engineering mjors ofim describes their colleges as pifty s f tacit dishonesty in. representing enginwring as a four-year degrm, b t h in official litemture, and in the fomal xhetoxic of dwns md advisors: To make it toak like you can do this in h u r y a r s , and to have all that prasufe a n you Co m&e it htlppn, that" s h y p p l e are so angry. They come h thiking they can do it in four ymrs. h d it's impossible for most pple-without having a brd-down. They build the argument that it's doable on the excqtions, not the nom. (Male white e n g i n a ~ n gnon-switcher) It's a matter of, 'We want you to take all these classes, and this is how we schdule all of it into four years." EM" think that" right. It creates havoc. (Male whik engineering non-switcher)
It is imp-t to emphasim, that sstudents do not suddenly discover their 'true vocation' as a canquence af stmggling in the "rang' major far a semesbr ox two. Smdats who had a fwiIity with mathematics, and an interest in the fcimees, but who were under-prepard for the fresh had set-backs in early cfasm, reported they could (or would) have persist& if help with t h s e relatively eo n problem had b a n more available or better o r g m i d . n e i r m r c h for m alternative mjor begm only aJser the downward spiral was set in motion,
Other Perspectives OPCthe W;~ad~~rss Qf S. M E, M~jorg Broadly , undergradwtes distinpish bwwn a s p t s of sut?jmt matter they see as iderentXy difficult to unbersbnd, and those which they s w as made umecessariity hard so as to perpewae the i m g e of science as 'hard majors'. Again, students o&en use %hardness?to reference several different, hut related, ideas in the same conversation. Seniors report4 that the most fmstrating
attfibub of some mbject content ww its illusiveness: regardliess of Xevef of effort expend& h t q h g to g m p m a i n concepts, the Imp to camprehension could swm entirely intruitive. The problem of how to "get it" ww what m d e some p a ~ of s ~ienm and =themtics int&siw#ly hard: You grasp a concqt, and &en, it% so easy. And you c m 3 explain it to the next person who d0eii.n" get if. (Female Asian-herican science switcher)
The ability ta g m p concepts ixswitivdy md quickly e survival at: the early sbges of the mjor more likely, S d o m also d i s c w d the haunting wnscr: of i d a s w k c h were "out them" just byond their intellecWl gmp: the more: they understood, the more this illusive m t b r (vvbie-h they sometima referrd to as "the rm1 s t u f r ) smmd tto move &&her away:r You get through one theory, and you t h you ~ finally undershnd it, and then somejoker says, 'Okay. That was the waiter& down part. Now, here" the reat stuff.* They W% always pug that mg from under you. Praurnably, when you g& to gmduate sehaol, tfieyke final@ ganna give you the real stuff: (Female white scknee non-switch@ From a focus group of mIe and f e m l e seimce mniorsb u % e gotta End of keep the faith-and
that's hard to do,
Y a h , hojd onto that bible, (Laughkr.) You b o w , eventuauy, you think youye ganna get this stuK And in a form where you can do a good job with it-in resareh or whatever. M a t happens occasionally, 1% see something I've seen a thousand times before, but suddenly, I h o w what it is.
%ght. And, suddenly, you undergbnd an awful lot more about the whole thing bmause some little piew of it just made sense, And, beWmn times like that, you just do it, and do it.
Yeah, it's s tEease. r; these insigh& harder to wbieve by d d i b r a t e The s ~ i c i o n that fxuXty anystlf eation was w h o 4 in the concern that, nowithstanding the emphasis on praaf, one is often a p t & to accept thwreticaf m t ~ r i aals a mtkr of faith:
With scknce, there are some things you are just a s k 4 to t&e for a faettheyke just given. But a lot. of pwple can't twept that. They quation what it means when you S+ of 'a force. "Female white science switcher) You never =fly know whet;ker molecules exist, W e n I began organic chemistry, I kept t h i n ~ g 'How , long did it take: p p l e to m&e up these stoics?' You don't t a r any kind of proof, and yet, yauke supposed to took for proof to supprt an argument, You're kEng a whole lot more on trust than
swms rasonable. It's sort of like hamay, (Female white science nonswitc?her)
The higMy abstwt, hwreti-1 nabre of same OFthe m k d a l also made w p t s of science md mthemtics %wdl, as did the appamnt p a d o x of worgng simuEmmwXy with blfi the abstmt m d f i e concreb: The work doesn" get any msier a@you get fuhw in. It isn" unt2 junior year that you sbft to get all the thmry. w a l e white e n g i n w h g sdtcher)
Wth chrnbgw, there" always a defmik a n s w r h a t you'm loo&@ for. It's a h o s t a i e r , but its harder at the same t h e , (Female black science switcher)
mare fmstrathg when ~hrdentsobserved the htuitive way in wtriGh some classm t e s grasped abstrwtions w~cl.1they could not seem to "get' with any amount: of efforl: Thk fiend of nine, he never stucfied. I would be them late at night trying to work on a pmblem, h d f wouldn't get it, And I would try all night, every night, all week long, but he wouldn" even o p n a book. W e n we would meet him h the mf*fia at 8:W p m . the night before the assignmat was due, he'd just be stsgbg to WO&on the problem, And we'd all huddle amund h h to see how he did it, h d he end& up with an A in that A s s , It was just natural talent. (Female white e n g i n m h g switcher)
He was gmhg the same gmde as I w ~ s but , he was doing half the work. (Male: white e n g i n m h g non-switcher) f thhk it's like h n a b a r inherent in you, It's h d a like mple who don't understand calculus. It's not always som&hg that can be learned ~ l lots h of ~tudyhg,I didn" tml that e n g h m h g was difficult, or more diffi~ultthan any other major, It was just diffemt. (Female whib e t n g k m h g non-switcher)
it padicularly painhl far svvi&hem to b r the ea presumption that those who didn" t o well, or who hiled tests, did so bsame they were not w o r h g hard enough. "l"hemger generaM aromd this issw illustrates the canAjict kwmn the demmmtic no of U.S. eduwti~n,md the of science as a trwnatianal institution. a t wme peapEe a p p r to have an k p t i a d e b r "gffl' which dXows them to g m p the abstrwtions of scienw and mthemties ixzhitivdy md succeed without trying, floue the 1 w m d expcxtatiaas of f r m h a that they will su if only they try hard enough. The XittEe Red Engine" prwription for suwess is 1mmd at an early age from farnity and twhem, md eonti~uesto be rekforeeb throughout pret for s u e w s at college eidueation. Hard work remirns the d o ~ n mexplauzation caXlege md is r e k f o r d by parents, peers md S.M.E. faculty. By this usage of the:tern, sience md -themties are m n as 'hard9mause: they are swn as 'unfair" Rewards swm to b given to pmple who do not nmssarify try very
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hard, while faculty blame "less gikedhbdents far not trying bard enough, 'This aspect of college mienee is ially demarafi~ngfar all students who have k n rewarded by )high scho h o t h e r 'had-wt of science and mthemtics is that comprehensio~and sElIIs must be built squentially, as in the acquisition of fiumcy in a foreip lmmge: Engin-kg is an lanforgivhg major, You have to h o w your stuff.. .You can't just memoke, or t h M about how to solve this, You have to leant it to h o w how to do it. (Male white e n g h w h g non-switcher) Evefything you learn is b a d on what you Imrned before, and if you don't understsnd a wmin concept then it% gmna make it mueh more diffi~ukto understand the succdhing conapts. In some other chsses I k e e e n , if you miss one: part, it's not really gob& to affwt your undemknding of another part. They Ye not so interd~ndent.(Male white englnecfing switcher)
Building this arteahl stmehxre, md being able to use it effwtivdy, are 'hard" se of the amount af work r q u i r d : It" the b d of thing where, alaough you can memorim the famulas, unless you also do the problems over and aver again, you" not going to get it, or know how to do it. Those are the harder classes. (Female white sciencfe nonswitcher)
However, this intrinsic difficulty is inc if faculit;y fall to structure the in a w;ay that allows shdenh to build t h w sbps, a d make the nwsmry conm-1 ctomections. Xrt this sense, science and mathemtics are "ard', both intr*insicallyand non-intriasicalEy, h a u s e so much depnds on the efficacy with which faculty stmcture the presentation of mbrials; If you have a class that deals with &kgs you%e never had in any other class-just completegy uunrelatcd concepts-and you have to pick them up fight a w y , beeause the whole ehss is basd around them-that" difficult. X can thi& of a couple af cbsses like that, and it. was one af the things that r a l l y bother& me, (Male white enginmfing swil~her)
From a &us group dixussion among male and female *nior science majarsIn any ctass, I see how much there is, and how much I actually gat out of it, and how much he tried to present that X didn't understand, Or, I'm looking through the book and I see aU this other stuff that is maningless to me,. ..
Qr, you wak into a eIass, and they start Ie~turingon things you didn" know existd. And then they say, 'We're gonna have a test on this."nd 'Really?"
youke thinking,
I think that" disturbing to a lot of people, It's disturbing to me.
Sturdents also understd that wquiring the competlencr: to do science well involved a grat deal of reptition in the workkg of problem and in mernotizaas hard. They were dubious, however, whether tion. This tw w s srzry to the degrm to which faculty them: The way tkey teach in enghmring is EtasicaHy through r w i t i o n . They show you something in class, and then you do homework pmblems an it. ('Male white engineering non-switcher) And when you're an enginezer, you'd darn well bmer know how to memo
I guess I had an advantage, 'cause f do have those: memorizatian skills. Other people might thhk it out-use their hwds-use common sense. But engineers aren 't into common sense! (Female white engineering switcher) A11 I remember about organic chemistry is memofizing these high reaction processes. AU of that good stuff, Just forgotlea, (Male white science nonswikher)
Undergrduates accepM that some of the subject mtter and skills n d d to da mien= are Semntly 'hard" However, they wnsmtly question& their laming e x p ~ e n c e sharder thm they whethex faculty conspi ioning mre evident tbm in studentshse of "hardness* to describe the ing nahre of S.M .E. e a r s . Persistence was portrayed, in large of moral fiber, physical staunina, and the mpwity to tolerate fmstratioa, loneliness md self-doubt: Scimee is hard, base, always foeusecf. Just to uus annother part of my thoughts is r e l a h g . (F;emale blaek science non-switcher) You can never sit down and read a book that" sot related to school-that" luxury. (Male h i t e enghmring non-switcher)
a
It% a k r d Ge'ld. It% k k y to study it, f think, for your ego, and friendships sufkr, (Female white enghineehg switeher) You usutiHy have nobody to help you, or discuss it w;ith you. Youke out there on your om,,.And you have this pressure on you the whole time. It bkes everything fmm you. Xt t&es all the t h e you%ve got. I think I had one Saurday off the whale semester. I left my apartment at 8:W am. every morning, and I was never back before 11: a )p m . at night. And X was jogging in the middle of the day, bwause if i[ didn" cldo that, X couldn" tkeep it up. (Female white enginwhg non-switcher) You can spend hours-I mean, 10 to 12 houm-just tving to figure out what's going on, and not even get to a gaint where you can solve it.. .It's hard just beeause of the amount of time rquired. (Male Hispanic enginwring nonsdteber)
f have a f ~ e n dwho mansgd ta conrpl- a civif m g h w ~ degrw g in four y a r s w n e of the f w who could puU &at off: But it eost him hi girl fiend-uib fitemUly. Tause I've smn him look at his watch, and say, 'I haven't hkd to her in a man&,? He'd W&@ up snd r a k e it had b m that long. E v a b I l y , she said, ' S o y , I don% remember what you look like anymare. " (Male white seimce non-s+~her)
The moral ~ b d l e n g ewKeh S,M*E, m j o m 'hard78 pa&ly eras by livhg dangsicte nan-SeM,B, mdergdww wham time is not totalXy e o m u m d by class work, wha m m to do work for m r e e d i t , arzd whom mjors r q u i r f ~fewer eredit hours for @utian: X was living in ai domitory whem evevane else was a liberal arts major, And they s w m d to have much less work to do and were gMing As, while X wm s t n r g h g for Bs and Gs-which I thought was tedbly unfair. (Fmale whik enghwing non-setcher)
The 'em~l~ s t m s p' a d o x of s i ~ a w and m & e m t i c s describe;b by mniom is that a d y by total i emion in the disciplhe snd willingr;lessto s u b d t to all s, does one find the excitement af mien= wfieh most smdeals who enbrd it ha* to expAaw: Science a n be so scary, bwause sa many p p l e rely on it, and there's sorneahuzg new behg discoved every day. it changw wnslantly, and it% so tough to l a m . There" so much to know. But that" what makes it excithg for me, It% s cehuennge, And a lot of people see it as tlso much of a challenge, or g& sear& by it-&e with organics, which is one of the toughmt chsses, bwause yau have to a t and s l ~ organics. p (Female white science nonswikher)
By contrmt, so- students prceivt3rd their major as mare d disciplbe itself r q u i r d : It taches you to l a m thhgs quickly, and how to survive. And those sk-ifls aren" tweessady mlevant to what I consider a goad enghm&g e u d ~ u lum, ,.A good engineer and a good survivor amn? the same sing. l shouldn't have to w o about ~ how to get an A. I should be going into eXass to learn what" i m p a n t , (Male Hispanic enginwdg non-switcher) Students also wondered if developing wn ability to m p with an over-de major might not become addictive. They described the appeal of being seen as the kind of perwa who can "hack it." T b r e s p t this bnings from peers or outsiders can becorn a reward far pr~iste-neein and of it&& It also helps to perpemte the image of the 'hard' S.M.E. -or among other undergraduates: Most of my engineefing friend8 think enginmhg i s hard. But they are always tegkg each ather, 'This is ssa hard.' They pull all-nighter8 and &use their bodies with caffeine and lack of sleep. They get through it bmause they want
to, ar bwause they feel they n& to be samwne, You have to be a rally ddven p m a n to do it, I thM. (Female \ivhik engineehg s~tchel.) The fortilude shorn by sunivom minforw the: wlf-doubts of those who leave. h is b t e ; d in the extmct a b v e (md as re shall discuss in more debil),
women in &W =jam &gs"ff-puttkg, al
o h n find d~momtmtioasof 'hard men doing hard
It's all hard eare, and it's krgely male. (Fem~lewhite engineering nons&tcheE.)
I &fi the genemE fwhg ia enginwhg skkher)
f just couldn? tack it, CfJmmfc whits :
It% h r n d i a k l y assumed that yau either weren" bbright enau&, or that you weren" tapable of handhg it. And I do fwf infe~or-lae f wasn%capable of handbg it-&Ithough I. mlly doubt that too, (Pernab white engineering s~kher)
Subtly, the arpment &at mm6 q w t s of the subject mtter are intrinsically asis for moml judgements though the ways in bught and a s s e s d . Not only is the hptihrde' mtion, so too is their moral wo&h (which r hard work). However, as ded by faculty m y , or may y s ~ o r r spoht : out, a1 they are tmcGxtg, axtd not, be dictated by the ktrinsic b g h rewar& are o@mgiven to thaw who do not WO& particularly hard but who have a g d intuitive grmp of the subject. P&& of the %ba;rdnesskof S. M.E. mjors, therefore, inrcXudes the projection md p e w b t i o n of an i m a e of 'hardnms" It hnctions to =ward those who prsist with m ertmcer;f self-imge a d social, reputation. hbntfy, it promts the non-intrinsic, socially-constmeted q w t s of "rd-jors from arpmmts favoring chmges in curriculum d m i p or p&gogy. Smdents m s p t that there is s o m e t b g slippery abo ways in w&ch faculty of the %ardnms\f their discipline. n e y their o m disthtions bmwn what is md is not inher~ntlyh a d a h u t subject m t e ~ a l ,aad questio mtianale for the isrelusion of padicular sutr?jwt contmt, and for same This fidiculous computer pmgramming and graphics stuff n d n " have been sa heaviEy emphasizd in the first semester, A lot of it was mHS) bogus, (Female *its: engineering non-switcher) I don" &think the funrfarnen&fs of chemistry are that diffricult to grasp. It" very Xagicslf. But I th* they do m k e it harder than it rids to be. (Female AsianhePican scimce switcher)
&e ' h a r d k p m t of 3,M.E. mjors which sadents SW as entirely sociatlyconstmctd is the encouragement of competitive, mther thm cattabsrative,
lwming, This is eqeeially p u d i n g to studenb who discover that working tctgether on problem md projcxts e&anees eomprehemion, provokes intelIectuaE debate, and provides the emotional support nwwsary to persist. Seniors almost u~verwXXye i M collabomtive Zeadmg stmtegies as m impo initfinsically hard mtefial: A b t of the students fell:thratctned-felt they had to mm@ against the other students. They w u l d not even associate with other members of the class as far as g&hg the homework or programs done. (Male black enginw~ngswikhef;)
It's very impomnt to sit at a table t-ogdher and to be able to m&e little jokes about the work, just &aget =l strong sense of support. from people who understand you ean spend four hours on one problem, It's just very hportant to be around other peaple who are m a ~ n gthe same type a f commitment. (Fernate bbek enginwring switcher)
Discussion in a focus group of k m l e engineering switchersIt smm& in a, lot of classes you were actually diseouragd from working togaher-'You can't work tog&her on homework,3is how it was put,
Yeah, they m&e a point of being anal-rdentive about the plagiarism rules. They m&e a b t of students look at studying togdher as one gassible way of getting busd-even if its not a violation of the rules. Yeah. It has a very ehilfing effeet.
We shall explore the significarace of 'the competitive S.M .E. cultureband peer
The Signifiance of Gmdm
Almost one qmrter (23.0%) of switchem regorled that problem with grades, e s p i a l l y in early classes, were a factor in their decision to I a v e the mjor. A third of all switcherrr cited grade-related issues as having c a u d some level of difficulty, By caxrtrwt, 12.5 percent of non-switcherrs cited grades ah; having been, or mntinuing to be, problemtic. Although switchem and persisters do not experience the same level of difficulty with grades, it is surprising that the d i f f e r e n ~b e h w n them is nut grater, On the basis of conventional wisdom, we expected grade-related problem to figure rather more than they did in switching decisions, md rather less in the aceounb of persisters. In this section, W expore some a s p t s of the relatimsbip betwwn grades and attrition as illusrinaa by our data. In our ovewiw of findings, we presefntsd data to support our hypothesis that differences in perfo ee =or- of mitehers md non-switchers at this level of ability are insufficient tQ pxediet vvhich students are likely la which to leave. We have also a r p d that women who, as a group, h identified at high risk of swikhing, often leave S.M.E. majors with grades
which are as hiiglx, or higher, than the avemge grades of men who remin. We alm illustrrttd our cantmtion. that studenk comptent to earnpleb 3,M.E. =jars are ofien lost, md that these lossw in~fudesome highly bleat& students, Finally, by dmwing our selection line at 650, or al>ove, in S.A.T. mthemtics (or quivalent) m r e s , the sbdeats ineludedt in our sample should have report& fewer problem with law grades than w u l d s less selective sample of S.M.E. frwhmen md sopbomores. Predictigg wkcb studenk are mere or less likdy to lwve S.M.E. mjors by establigbg statistical re'latiomhip ;beWwn perfo prsis-cr: outeolnes is difficult, partly becawe the 'fit-Wuen tbe two is always imperfwt, md partly bwause this relationship does not take into account how p p 1 e respgnd to the grades they receive. Grades m not objective, neutral, facts about people; they are labels to which. pwple react emotionally, md in terns of behavioral md identity adjustmen&. &r ciata offer some insights into the relationships grades, fwlings, identity, ruld action which, have relevance far attt.,itionand persistence. Some sNen'cs abmdon their orjginal intention to major in an S.M.E. discipl-inefor grade-related S: their preparation is not irs gaod as their high sebooI g d e s would suggest; they are addtted lfowecl to take basic classes, se they do net settle down despite mrginal grdes; they get poor gmdes rk hard enough. Our data to college work quickly enough, or sitnply do provide examples of shdents for whom one or more of the a h v e statements would, by tXIeir o m wounts, be accurate. However, at this level of demonstratd mthemtieal abitity, we did not e x p t , and did not find, these to be ant factors in our b f o ts' rdatiaaships with grades. For example, we encouatered shdents who chose to leave S.M.E. mjors although their grades were as gwd, or bekbr, thm thaw who remained: X got quite a negative raction when X quit-just liton, the fact that I was still doing fairly well in etasses when I made the decision to leave. (Female white e n g i n m ~ gswitcher)
My first yaar, E did ratty well-Ike 3.8.. And it was a real surprise to people, like my mother, that I wanted to change my major-beeause I was doing so well. And I taXd her, 'It" sot that it's hard. X just don" want to do it.%After that, my grades drop@ off a bit, bbct;eause E w%sn% sure what E want& to do-and that was p u ~ l ythrough lmk af interest. Last semester, after I had officially changed my major, they went back up to a 8.0. (Female white mathematics swigchef.)
We also encounerd students whose g d e s (and whose dwisions based upon them) were seriously a f f m d by illness or a f;lhIy crisis. The effwts of such emergencies are exacerbatd by at curriculum pace which mkes no allowance flor them, md by lack of good advising:
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I got an A in calculus, and a B in ehemistv, then, in the h k r , I got very ill and miss& about two W W ~ Bof clags. Instmd of just drapphg out, X t ~ & to eatch up. h d X couldn" t o it. I didn" fail, but X hidn" da weu either. At that p k t , I just Ihought, "h, forgd it,' and transfend out. If I had drop@ out would have for that quaMr and s & d agak in the s p h g , I th* eve-ing been okay. a g h t now, I would probably be th g about behing chemistv, or being a chemicalt a g h w r . Female Arsian-An&ean sciencr: swikher)
Howevex, by far the
ch g r d w a f f w w s w i k h g by ixatrductory class grdw wEeh were far lawer had beea mwbrnd in high school, This issue has e facet of the way that high schasls mder-prepare swents for ccafliege. Here we describe how that exprienw tmslates i g t ~m attfition risk. Typi-1 early grade-shock aaountdil r a d as follows: Vou%e been gain&As and Bs, and you don't have to do any homework, and you just coast tf_lraughand get good graides. Then you hit couege, and it mlly, rally shps you up to get your first CS. (Male ulhite science switcher)
I was always at the top of my class in high school for math and seienee, but when I got into college science clmses, I was only getthg rndiacre grades. X e f r that ~ was the bigest problem, I could do the work okay, but X didn" feel eomfo-ble being in the middle a h r always being at the top, (Male white science swit~hel.) By my swand mid-tern, X was still pulling around the mean-which is okay-evcm; pr* good. But 1 was still a B- or C+, which is Xlodble for someone wfio does well in high school and is acwptd into a school as goad as this, X m a n , X never got a B until I got to coflege. It was very diseauraging, (Female hian-Amehean e n g i n e h g sv(riteher=r)
n e s e accounts ntise the qumtion of what it is that allours some people to persist despite the diwuragements wraught by the ezpehenee of low gradw in basic elms=, while athers, whose grades m y be similar or wen k t b r , do not. The foIIowing awumt gives mm@of the clues: I think the hardest thing is, you"@ used k, geaing As and Bs. And then you Gome to eolXege and you're, like, an 'AA"or a 'C', It's s l l y a kick h the head ...h d it's hard, b m u s e you Ye w o r b g just as hard and applying yoursdf just as much, and you'm still a 'C'.,.It makes you fwI awful. You can't foeus on what you" dahg: you always have to look at everybody else. (Female white enginr=e&g non-switcher)
The key problem is that, throughout their pre-college eduuttion, students have
b n encouraged to use grades as an extrinsic masure of comprehension, progress, and self worth. Over time, students come to see a person who receives A grades as an 'A' kind of person. The grade becomes detached from its origin in prtrtieular rachers"udgmen& of particular piam of work and becomes a
n a Learning Bpedgncg
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in identity and self-=Wm. As with all exthsic mwures af b s b w s the fmling one mwt Fw: w a d y af them, by the sam logic, rweiving Cs and Ds implies a mueh lower 1wd of p m n d worth. A policy of bugb g r d h g for frmhmen md s o p h a m m aceomplisbes more, therefore, thm bringhg lazy high s h m 1 grrcduates face to fha with the hard e d e w r k , It also haes the pokntid to und mlf-wo& af swdents with good ~ Q d yhabits and a wide m g e of abilities: A lot of p p l e let tfieir sdf-tmm g& mu&t up h their gmdes. So when ~ e grades k are going d o m they are pretty miserable, (Female white
e n g k w h g switcher)
Survival rquirm that studenb redefine the, purpose of grades, md re-evaluab their e r i t e ~ afar st;lf+stwm. h the fotlowhg exaqXe, a am-switcbg senior close she to mikhing Receiving just one D stion whetha she was rd of As wm sufficient to g& enough to Qt: in. &leg@ at all:
.
You look at all thwe As, and then there" fmshman biology-& D. I have no idea what happened. It w s & ~ b l yfmstrgting. And f se~ousfyt.hought %at whole terribfe semester, m y am I here?' 1 redly quegtitond whether I should be here, (Female white science non-switcher)
Sbdents also atnive in college having lamed to dekch g d e s fmrn the promssm af camprehension and ski1f s aquisition: Youke condition4 from age five, or whenever you start school, that yyo work fir a gads. You don't work to Xwm, (Female white engineehg non-swcilciher)
SW=& have l a m 4 to use g d e s m m indication that they undefsbnd the d mdlor age. ixxtermtd in it-whether or not is tme. As objects ed from their p u w s e , grades become more imps t than the h o w I d g e u d to q u i r e them or t h the sbdent's awareness of how vvdf they under8-d the mtenal: M m I came to eollege, l felt like X came for the grade, not the bowl-
edge-for the grade-just any way you could get iit ((Male whib e n g i n m ~ n g non-switcher) A lot of the p p l e in the class are very disappoint4 with the average. '!'hey don't think they are laming anything because the aventge is so low. (Female white mghwdng switeher)
If I hadn't Eelt perfwtly cornfa-ble that I was grasping everything, but I was still g&hg good gmdesil, I would hirye felt rassured that I was g&ing what X was suppsed to out o f it. If I had been geaing good gradw, I would have been cornfortable with the matefial. (Female white enginwring swit~her)
As we discwserf in the wtion on conwp-1 difficulties, 12.6 percent of switehers left parlly h a u r n they felt they did not undemmd satlient pa&s of the e u ~ c u l u m Rere , we are concern& with smdents wha wed their grdas as;- their m i n iadiclittioo that they had insuficirnt mcIersUding to stay. The habit: of judging ooewlf by the gmdm one receives, and of focusing on getting particular gradm, more thm an udershding the m b ~ a l does , nut necessarily fade in colf ege: It swms like a lot of p g l e don't teare if they are g&thg it or not---in the sense of understanding L. And that" how X was at 19 just out of high school-suwivinp just by hook or by eroak. (Male white engineehg nonswitcher) I've a friend in my classes who wants his As, and gets pisseb if he gets a B. We hasn't goten a B since the second g r d e , He might get one this semeskr, and it% upsetting him a lot. (Male white cnginmring non-switcher) W e n X first got to cctUege, I just got this big fear that I was never gonna g& As again ...But, I'm like back in gear, and I get kern now. And it means everything to me. I can't sstaind getting anflhing lower than a B I-ight now, (Female white enginecefing non-switcher) I w s geaing low Cs for my programming grades, end I didn" think that spending that much time for such a Xaw grade was wrCh my el%or't..So that's when I decided to ehange my major. I clhang& to business, and since then, I 've been getting a 4.0 G.P.A., and I've been extreme& happy with where I am, (Male white seienee switeher)
Not only does wking to define oneself as a wimer, rather than as tr. lamer, persist in college; it c=antinues to be reinforceid by p p l e signific~ntto students- their p r s , parents, employers, progmm dirwtors, and faculty: It i s very competitive, but they only look at the top grades-and the rest are kind of lumped togaher over there, They just write them off. They just look at the top, and eveqone d s e has to fend for themselves. And that mslde it very difficult-X mean, it defmitely lowers your self-estwm-to be just forgotten about as one of the lesser beings ...I mean, if somwne had given me some indication that, even with a ,!C f wufd puU through, I think I'd have had a better chance. (Female white enginmring s ~ t c h e r ' )
I was rally disgusM when f would get my repofl eard, and find my G.P.A. ran to four dwimal glams. ?vlywhole life was based on this G.P.A. That was just hammer& inta me by R.O.T.G. The attitude was, 'We don" tare what you do, just so long as you g& your G.P.A. up.' f feel lie I'm over the hump. X can% say I don't go through the emotional swings any more, but they're not as wild and wide as they used to be. (Male black mgineering switcher) W e n youkre a pre-m& student, it's very rough, because they're always comparing how youke doing with everyone else the whole way along, The
[Prze Learning Bperience
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peaple who h o w who dse is going to med s~hooltalk about it all the time, (Female whik science non-switcher)
In my dqafiment, which is smalI, you carn get bad as a B student or an A student. The pmfessors t;i& about &sir studenls, and theykre either subliminally ar wnseiously infiuencd as to what b d of student you are expmtd to be from the f i t day of class. w a l e white sciace swi&her) As some shdents c f a r l y apprwiatd, tditioxlaf mwsment pmctiees also r w of =If, and m the help to gerpetwte the use of g&@ sts extrinsic m central objective of class padicipation. Cume-grding, esyze;eislly, functions b r e i 9 grades md debch them from their p h g o g i c a l p u p s e : And something is wrong with the t-est; something" wrong with the &aching; something" wrong somewhere, I've etaken so many eaurses where the elass average was below 50, and you get that fwling of I~opelessness,And, yet, I know I" nnbove average, and 1% g& a B overall. It% a game, I think. But what u.orrSes me about it is, three or four years down the read, aim X really gonna undersbnd the material X just crammed f*ora test, and didn" know one word of? (Male white engixlmfing non-switcher) In the w d - o u t courses, they make the exams so ndiessly difficult that pesple just drop out, They study as hard as they can, go to elass evev day, try to get the&hornwrk, and then they take the exam and get a 65 on it-and the class average: is 63. And it makes you feel tehble. But, even if you get wise, and realize that you9e going tcl get a B out of it, whd%the point, if X fez1 like X l m m d nothhg from the course'? (Female white enginee~ngnonswitchet\)
It is diffxcdt fQr studeats to br& old ways of tfiinLcing h u t the relationship betcrvma g r d e s , ttdueational objwtlves, and wlfest-m, as long as faculty msessment s y s k m continue to reinforce them, The ca existing assessment practices was the Iack ~f fit &Wwn the grade awarded, and the level of cowrehension which shsdents felt they had a t k i n d , the s m d a r d of work they had demonstrated, or the amount of effort: they ha$ expmded:
My bayfriend, he's going crazy, and this is his four~hyear. Bwause the classes are sa hard. H e gets a 56, and the average is 54 ar something. It's very jli.ustraring. The professors need to do sorndhing with the exams ss they test understanding of what n&s to be 1e;lrned. f feel students should Iave with a sense aE accomplishment-fwl that they learned something-so that, when they go on to the next eaurse, they'I1 say, "h, I remember that from before." (Female white engineefing switcher) Seniors also expressed coneem a b u t the eantrapy s i b t i a n whereby the grading strucbre aiEowd stt;tdentswho h e w they did not r a l l y undershnd the material to end up with a rwanalble grade:
I've handed in bad p a p m and gogen gaod gmdes, h d that rally bathers me, because I fed M e they're n d p d i n g hard enough. X want my gmde to reR& what X undemhnd and what I Idon%. (Female white enginering svvitcher) I ended up gmhg a good gmde, but not knowhg arr)tt-ringabout FORT I WhUy brnbed the fmaf on that smtion, and I still got a B. And it was like, Wow esrne 1 should g& a. B when I m not g-hg it2"Male white engineccring switcher)
Cume-grding allows a k& degrw of @pardigit b w m n ectmrehmsion md an &B one hmd, and reward on the other, It W also mke grades m m totiifly arbitrafy: Some&ing new this last year that was totally s h a e h g to me was that, in mast classes, the instactor has a grade quok. He has to give out so many As and Bs. (Female white engineering sktcher)
Sbdmts also qumtictueb the p u v s e and etGcs of g r d e m d e frmhmen fml wless, hopeless, md incamptent: You fml t c ; ~ b f eyour f i s t year, and you just r e p a t that old thing, Well, evevane does badly &ek f i t year. "ut W& does everyone da badly in their fmt year? X suppose the id= is that t h q can look back and say, 'Now X see what f should have done. T h e y work r a l hard and by the end theyke akay. But, you lose gaod pmpXe, Pwple should do well in their first y a r . And that w y , I bet they" do we11 all the way through. (Male black e r r g i n e ~ g switcher)
Qne of the counter-productive consequences of the W&-out aprsizcfi is that it rehforw the bndeney to fwus on tests (and on haw ta pass them;), md a p n ha1 ads; a by-product of gettbg the grade. Freshmen develop rmentmenk about the %nfaimmsboFS. M. E. mjom bwause tvilzg hard d o m ' t nwessarify lead to success, and goes u n r w o ~ i dby faculty: His f ~ s D t was a rail shock to him, bwause he had been used to w r h g hard-not just G c h g back and passing classes asily-but working hard and doing well. And he beliewd that the working hard went with the doing well. But when he w o r k 4 hard here and stilf gat a D, he couldn" undergland that, He wag v e q angry and upset. (Male white science switcher)
h the faee of p r early tast grades, freshmen fall b a ~ kon the saw strakgies far getting goad gmdes that they l a m 4 in high school: thiey try harder, they cmm, they try to w x k out what it is that the tmcher 'rally wmts to h o w " a d they cheat: Pmple just kind of b w m e diseoumgd. Instmd of laming-they just t ~ e dto manipulate the tests. (Male white; mathernati~sswiteher) The seeond semester chemistry professor went pretty quickly, and gave rally bng assipments, and pmple would get frustmted and give up trying ta do L.
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So if they want& to pass the b t ~ they , felt chmting was the only thing they could do. (Femak white science non-switcher) The p p l e siakg at the back? W, there's a coupb of passibilities, Their komevvork" anat done and they%@doing it; or their homework" not done, and fheykre oopyhg it!--(hughing)-which happc=ns, I mean, it h a p p s quite a bit. (Male white mgkmhg non-skbher)
I do fmd a fat of eh&kg in the CoEege of Enghw&g. They'll give you il thr-paR homework, and one prson will erteh take a part, and the other two copy their answers. And hat's somaking I'm not us& to.. .There%always that W&-out pressure for you to g& on, or g& out. w a l e whiPe enginmdng switcher)
From a fwas group of male white enginmfing miorsThey'll copy it-I
m a n , that happens quite a bit.
h d who h a w s if the professor knows-if
your work is cornwt.
Somahes the TA. r a k e s it;, and they" mk you to come in ...But it's hard to differentiak w h d e r it's yyor own work or if it% copied, as eveqbody's work shouM be the same. Interviewer: Is chating an aeeepM way o f suwivingl Maybe-through the u n h a e n code, I'm not; sure. I mean, I've done it in a jam,and it's like, I know I*m not gonna get caught bwause the chanws are one in a 100. And, if f don't get the 10 pints, it just shoo& my grade way down at the bottom of the bt,,.because eveqone else i s doing it-you know, geahg together ;r get it alE done. So if you don't t o it* you Lose...So if I get the grade, but not the education, well, one out of two is b&er than none out of two.
Intemiewer; Is that a faiffy Gomrnon way of Iookhg at it?
1Bwause youke competing, and you don" know what the standard is,
able, md the assessment system i q I i e d that the =in objectiveW= ta beat class-maks to a good grade, chating discussed m logical md prdicbble, It was not, however, l e g i t i m w , use, in; an arbitraq (cume-grading) s i a t i s n , it gave one% seomptitors m &ge* How undergradwtw respond to their first expri.e~cesof gmdm that are much lower than those ta w ~ e hthey are accustom& is critical to their sumival h the =jar. This is as cfitieal for students with g& pstential m it is for those who are aeadedcally mrgind. It is as tme for sbdents who ar@ dohg
h classes where work d
rmonELbly well as if is for ~fi;lden&who are dokg worse than average. a o u g h o u t this section, we have sought to explain why this should be m. W e r e fmlings of dimppintment, fmt-ration, anger, fwulfy unfairness, and etkg self-wm, are not countered by r d e f i ~ t i a nof the b k of self, these affwtive r ~ o n m to low grades awlerate the l out of the mjor, Typimlfy, this prwms &gins with diseoveq that one is under-prepard (in my for the level of undersmding or work d d in early S.M,E. clmes; it eorxtinum with the ego-shock of grarles by sbdenb-who had defind themelves as "oodd" (or at Imst w m p tent)-rdefme th ves as "mrnpknt" W e n old ~ g sh o a l strategies, includhg trying harder, swrn much less effwtive than hitherto in swuring Ggher grades, %If-doubt, panic and depression increase. Some shdents seeik help; mmy do not-or do sa at too late a sbge, bwauw they believe they are wpposed to "hack it" alone. ('This response is rehforcd in classes where worbng collaboratively is definerJ as plagiarism.) Some find the pi&nc;e and rwsurmce they n d ; most do not, As their sense of hopelessness in~rwws, students begin to skip classes, isolat-e from peers, do less work, undershnd less and less, do even worse in exam, fail md Iwve: Once you get a little lost, then there's that drmd of going to class and just siaing there, and not knowing what's going on. It just made it msier for me not to go. (Female white scienw switcher)
1 gradually Game ta disl&e it.. .And 1 hated going to class bmause f felt I didn*t h o w anything. ARer that, my grades got so poor, I just got into that dovvnwrd cycle. (Male white enginsring switcher) Anybody who's sma&enough can muddle through anything. But when you g& failing grades, and youke g&ting depressed, you lose interest, Once you stop going to classes, that t a d s ta g& you. out& there fmr. (Female white mginmring switcher)
se the relationsKp b e w s n studenb and their grades is ractive and cumulative over time that it is difficult to explain. why same sbdents leave md others do not by exadnation of their grade patbms alone. Once a student% negative ractive spiral bgins, their grades and seHF-assessm ~ n chase b each other dowwards, Swikhing bwomes a m a sitwtiort in which sbdents mntbually fw1 badly about accounts of their a r l y grade-refat& crises ofien stress how closely they came to switching, md how a timely intewention by faculty, mnior students, or peers w s critical to their dwisioa to slay, For those who find the kind of a c a d e ~ ~ or personal help they n& at the right time, the downward grade spiral can be reversd. Seniors descfibd it as essential to re-focus their learning obj~tives,accept an average grade and trust their o m judgement &out how well they understoad
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IIS
the mbxial. M&ing this attihjde shiA, after y a r s of mialimtion in the opposib dirstion, m y not be w y : I try to look at it my sister" say, ksause she" always telling me that if you've got a low graide, but you redly gat sarnetJhing from the class, then it's okay, X keep t ~ h bg &tell, myself that when I don't ddo weB, but it's hard for me. Ike
thought about transfehg, too-it's s bard dwision. (Female Hispanic @science switcher) X thM &at%the only thhg &at saves pple-at last in physics and math-is to say, 'At Emst I" ddohing average. Everyone else is right along with me." Female white enginmhg non-swhher)
Survival w k i q u e s va~eidl,but mast includd m m udeaming of attihdes towards grades. Students reframed faculty grading practices as a game which they had also I m e d to play; tmk time out from college to gain and overcame dmpair by focusing on their interest in the discipline, employers, fomer mehers, older students, and faculty who had help& them dismce their gradm fmm their self-i and valued faculty whose methods empfiasi& comprehension aver I .was newous keuuse he didn2 give qukzes and tests. ?VG did same assignments, but they werent gm&&. m a t we did was ta rad, and came to class to discuss the mae~al,And Dr. f--- rally taught us, We stressed that we should undersbnd it rmlly well, and be able to apply it, I was nervous the whole semeskr bwause X didn" t o w what my gmde w s , But I gmdually began to ralke that he want& you to con~entrateon teaming. The swond class I had from him, I just loved it. Ri&t from the skrt, I went in there to learn ...1" love all the classes to be taught like that. But I suppse i t 3 not possible, bmause far most p p f e , the grade" the motivating factor, not the
leaning. (Female white mginmhng non-switeher) A taklly different way of copkg wm not to reverse the instmmenbl attiade to gmdes, but to extend it to the p i n t w h a e gradm arc; w n simply as s commodity-as the m i n return for the cost of a college education. f f SeM.E. faculty fail to deiivw the kinds of grades one n&s for carmr purposes (entv to a good mdical sehaol, or a weif-paid job with m employer who is gradeconscious), then it es sense to witch before too much damage is done to one" G.P. A, Swikhing ilr; a form of "system-piaying"discussd in Chrtpbr cl;) was r e p r t d in "I1 prcent of switching dwisiaas.
The Competitive Culture The degrw to w&ch m instnrmenbl attitude towards education is reinforcd depends on the culhilre of pa&ieular S.M.E. co11f;t8e a d depaflments, The strength of the competitive atmosphere in S.M.E. mjors; varid FaeWwn campus= and disciplines. However, it varied much less behven campuses than we had expected. We were s u f p h d to find evidence of competitive cultures in
of smIIer hstibtions whom and a -well-rounded ducational ww less &m in the rmarch " 'tim, it W= strong enou& for sadents in t h m smiler i;nstitutions to vidiow coqafisom with disciplhm w&ch they felt b t b r exemplified xtions of Xibml edumtian, We mggmt that the nationd, pmibly international, d u a t i o n favor individwl mmwition mther &m collabmt early shges of u n d e r g d w b dumtion. These traditiom liberal culbre of pafiicular f hstitutiam or i n d i v i d ~eampwes, l h the twa smaIler campurns in ou e (inclding the p ~ v a t eliberal arts coflege), tive atmoqhere e x m e n d by studenb in s i e n w and =themties classes W= fw than th& experiend hy their eountewads in other types of bstitutions. However, compared with classes in other disciplines, S.M.E. clmsm follow& the =me wmpditive tradition as other institutions. m s tradition m y have g r o w out af fiNB essentidly umelatd beliefs: that the ability txl do science a d -themties is relatively rare, iuzd that thorn who possess it are of stronger moral character t b those who do not, The competitive ethos of s i m w m y Xly strang in the U n i t 4 S&tes, pa&Iy b ~ a u s of e its tradition of m dalism, md partly h a u s e of its higMy local sysbm of edurntion, A genemlid newousness; a b u t adopthg national e ~ ~ c u l us&&r&, m or develophg sbbwide wmsment system (on other thm a voXuntary bwis)" the ccrikfia far entry to higher e;rfumtion is one r a m n far large i n a e clasw that must be rdueed to fit depaftmenkl remurms. This rduction p r m s s also mmts fwuftyk n& to identify that smII number of "&>&dents wKch they e x p t to find among the larger number t_e, mew eswntially nonentmta they must initially a a o educational ol?jwtives w p p r t the eomptitive cuXWre found in most S.M.E, de;pa&ments. Dislike of the hjgMy eomptitive approach to d u a t i o n found in S.M. E. c l m m wm a factor in 14.8 p r m n t of switching decisions and a source of mmpfaht for 28.4 p r ~ e n of t witchem ovemll, It was not a m j o r problem for seniors, of whom only 9.2 p r m n t mmtiond it as such, 'This finding q w r e s with ~ ~ o m ~ b ~ w a that t i othe n uncomfo-bXe s wmpetitive atmosphere urn11y ody lasls far the first WOyars. Early in their junior y a r , studerzb r e p d d ai dramtic change in faculty" approach to twhiag, in attitude toward wllaborag, and in pemnat khavior towards undergraduates: The toughness and pace of those classes is probably pa& o f the system, bwause, when you get past ithem, suddenly, they make the matekl more interesting. You g&to revim things, and som&hr=sthe pmfessar even bucks you up: 'You"@ not dokg weXl+oxne on, get. with it,' They start to give you juat a little bit o f encouragement. (Pernab white science non-switcher)
And, all of a sudden, you" w o r h g in a group, And it S taEaUy new, a d we werm% used to co-opmthg ~ t wevone h &e to g& sorn&hg done, @male whib mginmhg non-sdkher)
S W e n b who r w i s w t h w new no
the new deviants:
After that pint, them develops a h d of carnamderie. But &ere are still the other pple;-&e cumeb . mem%one female physics major in our sham hr;r infornation gmdu&bg class. She' d& m y M y . (Mab
itive atmsphere of their socially htrduelory clasws was not a 'natural' fienamenon, but had mginmrd.Mmy swikhers h& stso wme to the eandusim that students were delibemtely set up to fight the e u ~ c u l u r nthe , pfessor and eactt other: The eomFition h these clasgm is so great bmause professors only want to give out so many As, Bs, and C S . ahemise, it m&= them look m e their dass isn't cehaflefighg sough, They want to disprse the p d e acmss the curve. (Male whik science switcher) The -@her sets the b e t of eornFition by his own grading palicy.. In chemical enginmhg, ~ p l didn't e want to help you unless you were gonna be abb to hefp &ern. (Femab white: e n g h m h g switcher)
mey n o t i d that mmptitivmms W= mwiXy grmtmt in m j o m 1 d k g dimtly to a profmsionaf mmr, minly m g h e e ~ g afld the 9re"mXth =jars. For so- smdents who had h-dd to pursw t h w earwm, the eomptitive a fwtor in &@itehage of anind; far &as@ixz other S.M.E. with profmion-bmd sad=&, it di dumtional m p i e n w : I r-fly dicln" l e the entry bio corn cfass X taok last year, bwause it was so cut-throat. The whole poht of it is to m&@ sure that only a cemin gercenhgc: of the pm-meds g& g a d enough grades to get into m& school, I'm gglaid that*% the fast -urge that f have to take with premeds. (Female whi.te scienec: nonswikher) It would have been asier if @emhadn" twn such comgt=litionb w w n aU the prexneds and the e n g k m h g students in our chsses, It was just intern&. (Fmitlc: white science skteirer) The word "mmedhonjures up a lot af f a r in a lot of o*er pleople: 'l guess 13x1 mu- this class, bwause I don% want to be swam@ by pmmeds.' Bwause: these p p I e are gonna raise the commition level, (Female white science swikher)
afsa obmrved that camptition ww not m inevibbfe haetion af large etass sim. b r g e classes in other disciplines were oat nwessa~fy comptitive:
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Civics was a huge cbss. But it's squired, and you feel you're h it togdher, It s m s to induce ca-oyzemtion. So size isn% what ermks camptition. r"fiilosophy was a huge class also. f assume it" how impartant you think the ehss is ta your future. male white science switcher)
It was afsa thought I&eIy that externat m n o ~ factors c mcouraged eomptitive They don%came out and say it, but: the better your grades, the betrer your placement in graduation, the b&er your job offem. And eveqbody's always serambfing for the best job available. (Male Hispanic ermginwkg nonswiteker] Pmple don't wwant to b m m e ffiends, bwause theyke w o h d about somearme calling them up, asEng & a d noes, and this or that question, or wanting help in the lab.. .In a business class, you always have somwne you can call on, and they'm always willing to give notes, because in accounting there are lots of jobs. So theykre: not so w o ~ d But , in zoology, you?e always wohed about getting into m& school-and it"sjust gonna get worse. (Female white scien~e swilcher)
Curve-grading is the erzgirre which dives the co titive atmosphere in early S.M.E. cIases, It is this, ahve all, which d w students fmrfitl of s h a h g their work or their ideas: It's very cut-throat. Everybody's struggling to be in that top percentage. And evemhing is curvegradd. As far as pwp2e leaving the College of Engineering, f think that might be something to ferrr. (Female white enginw~ng switcher) The key was to brak the cunre, b r a k the curve, Pmple woutb study all night-and you couldn't study with your ffiendrs-you couXdn% eexhange infornation, It was very inknsive, (Male whits: science switcher)
Cume-g~adiagforces students to compete with eaeh other, whether they want to or not, h a u s e it exaggefates very fine degrm af difference in perfomance. %ere there is ZiEtfeor no difference in work smdards, it encourages a stmggle to create it, From a fwus group of white mle enginwring ~ n i o r s : E m a n , some pmpfe will take their project or their homework and will put it on a Macintosh laser pI-inter, print it, bind it, and hand it in,.,l eaXI that brown-nosing. And if one person st;afis doing it, then everyone has to follow suit. Bmause you're compting for a grade, You definitely compete ;For grades in engineering; whcrcais yeu earn grades in other disciplines...I have to g& one point higher on the test than the next guy so f can get the higher grade. Youke set a moving shndard.
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,it's real a s y for them to rank a @ t . h d bmause evewhhg" compute: you just by kKng the computer to, '"Rank in descending order. "nd it will be print& up by student numbers-fiey barely use names. And it's all just a fmction of a point here or there. It" raUy tough,
Strrdents criticid forced comptitisn as counter-prductive to getting a good basic ducation h science and mathemtics from a m m b r of swdpoints. h the first piace, comptition perpemw the hi& schoaX habit of foeusing on the grade, rather t b an the learnkg experienw: They weren't rally into learning the mgtedal-just miemohing it for the emms, where they could ~ g u r g i h bit, and g& that grade,. .X m a n , it's nice to g& an A, but, an A is w r t h nothing if you don't undersbnd what you are doing, 1% rat.her g& a C and underst;;zndwhat I did, than get an A and totally forget what is going on. (&male black science surikher) It w s an uneomfomble atmosphere: everyone was in a bad mood aU the: time-a comptitive mood which emphasizd success to the mctusion af anyone" aab&ty to enjoy the laming process. And W ,more than anflhing else, is one of the main things that made me rethink what X .want& to do. (Female white engineering switcher)
They also felt that eufve g r d k g encouraged shrdents to namaw tbeir ducatia~al md social horizons: at?jwtives, and linnit aeir intell=-l X a h o s t t h i d that some of my class-nnaibs are pathetic, They don't know how to write an efferjetive p a p r ...ar how to eommunicab. (Male Hispanic engineering non-switeher)
That" all they about is schoaf, It s e m s like enginmrs have so few outside interests-to go out and do things-that drives me away. (Female white enginwbg non-switcher-)
Competition based on euwe-grghing distorts; nomal social internetion bewwn students. It crates isolation, mutud mspieion, and promobs a grossly protwtive attitude to the acquisition af howledge md sklls: And a lot of students felt thrmtmd-that they were in competition against the others-and they would not evm associate with other members of the class, (Male black e n ~ n a r i n gswitcher)
PmgXe are mare c o m f o ~ b l ewith studying on their own, and fwling that nabody else is geaing a ride on it., .I m a n , "cause if nobody k gonna help you out, then you'rer 'Well, then, I m not gonna help anybody else out. "Male Asian-American engineehng switcher) There's one guy who's nnat rally in our group, and he21 come to me: ta check his answers. And he ends up copying some of my homework. And it really bothers me.. .Because I don" get anything from him., .It seems &e I'm just bt=ing m i k d , It feels that way sometimw in my study group-that my brain gets pickd. And sometimes X think, W y am I helping all these people out?"
Teause it's gama hurt me "use it b h g s up the avemge of the class, which hum my g d e , (Male whik e n g k m h g non-switcher) Say, you went to the Xibmry, and zemxd the pmviourr mid-km. Pmpb nomally have no pmblm sha*g &at,.-But in c h m h t q , p p l e would not show it to sommne else. They vvoufd say, 'Go to the lilsmv and get if youmelf.' I don't t o w if they need to get As to get into med school, but it dehibly tsok away a lot of the joy, m a l e white enginwhg g k t ~ h e r ) The fmt two yeam hem, all you fiW a b u t i s hopkg you do bewr than eveqbody eke-a~tually, you hape that everybody eke: fass...It's bad. it br&s comMtiveness md sInggw out =*in h d s of people to s u e c d , as oppsed to other, more gentle t y p s of pgle-people pwple. (Male Hhpanic m&mhng sklcher)
t is padicularly LefZing, It phpixlb one of the non-edueatisnal @rlm&Xy u&mdd) h n ~ t i o nof s the w&+ut system-that of culling sadents with paftieuia;rc b m t e r aktfibutes: f think they do lose some abfe p p f e - p p l e who am able to do the work, if &ey?e not as aggmssive or asserl;ive, they won't swk but fall behhd, h&, out the help ~ e R&-just y bwauae they f i l afraid to ask in that e b t e : it's just so eomp&itive, (Male white science swikher)
na;hre9,as is sometimm ere as s 'divide md
wnqwer"tmbgy, pmferenw for eo-opmtive work-a tadency w ~ c tXley h MW r a t i d in other eXmm:
I noticd a big difference wben I switched ta management. Xn every class I swear they have some sort of group work.,.Not;zr, when I go from chss to elass, I've h& all these p u p s so I know evevone in the elass. And that m&es it comfoable to ask the professor questions bieeause you don't f-l stupid &e you do with a bunch af stmngers. (Female white enghwfing switcher) The pmfessom didn't: encourage m m work. It's hdividuaX competitionwheras, In management, aere's still some indkidual comptition, but it%sot so htense, h d weke uslualfy g r o u w tagdher; so you e o m p e with other people, but then you also get togaher as a gmup and compete as a group. Tarnwork is alwsys enmuratgd. (Fernate Asian-hefiean engheering s~tcher)
M e n you do an hbmship, you fmd out that ennginmrs in the real world actually work togder to g& stuff done, @male white: enginwhg nonswi&her) M e n you g& out there, you bave to h o w how to co-operate... fn the Eeld, you hawe to have good wmmuniwtian sMs; you have to work well with othen. (Male W &panic en&m*g non-skt~her) ~ i @in w t i o n are women. It is not aecidenbl that sa found the one-sim-fitsmall psychology that undewfi tes alien or offensivea-f&au@ it W= not t factam i s their decisiom to leave. comptitive cutare are discus& in some detail in ing, 8aden.b rmpndetd to the comptirtive cult-ure of ktraductory S,M,E, c l w by ~ finding ways play the sysbm, or to d i s m m them@rlvesfrom it, The most h o e w a s form of sysbm-bwting W=, wherevsr;r passible, avaidhg t h o classes ~ h o w ta be very competitive. Mare h m g i n g to other swdents ww the practice of e i n g htrductcrry classes below one's We h a w quik a number of people who have ~ e A.P. n fiysics who are in this class, and they shouldn" be. This is a fist class. And they whizz& through evemhbg, Just p p l e wha want4 to get a good skrt on tltetjr trrmscip. It vvas r a w diseouragbg, bmause so many p g l e ahwdy undemtood, and the professor went so quicHy for them, the rest of us gat last, (Female Asim-American eagineePing swit~her) However, the mos
sysbm-playing response ww to get the g d a my we h v e alrady indicated, mmetimes ineludd chmting- Most people felt ambivalmt about chmting, but a e e p t d it as a regretkble, syskm-driven n a s i e - t z fmdhg which calls into qumtion the effectiveness of the w d - o u t sys&m as a way to select far strong mord character. The high degree of support for a very campetitive system, s h o w by illustmw one extreme of duationaX hstmmenttrfism: way you could.
W y should X waste my t h e going to to school which isn't tcompetitive. I m m , if our school" slower in the erngbyer's eyes, why should they want to hire me? M y should X waste my t h e whm l: wuld be p r q a h g for
something else?. ..It's a k i le ; competing in a race,. .You wanna h o w who youke compting against.. .mere%s ssyskm that youke got t;o figure out, so you can m&e it work for you-r it &l1 hurt you. (Male white enginwring nonswitcher) nose who dislikd the comptitive atmosphere either found ways to ameliorate their discomfo&s, or were at risk of Ieving, Hawever, not all students were
prepard to deaf with a comptitive cutbre as a na life:
1 f a b r e of their working
I was srtmoundd by p p 1 e who were tfying to get entrance into the program, . was always a sense: af distrust-of and W were alt fighting each 0 t h ~ There ~ p l not e wanting ta help other peoplie, to share answers, or to encourage other people morally-just na supprt bewmn students, And I began ta rethbk what I wanM to do. I felt I wasn" capable: of figing h m an environment like that, or of m a g a diffemace. Who the heck would f be in a world of pmple: I can't tmmunicate with? (Fmale white enghee&g switcher)
For 14.8 prcznt of witchem, such conmms cantributd to the deision to I a v e b i r S.M.E. major: My main rmson for switching was that I ddi riot like the geaple X was involvect with ...it was a p r e r n d squence, so there were some really aggressive studenh. And in chemistry too, there was a lot o f unsavary grubbing going on. (Male white enginmring s ~ t c h e r ) The competition was so htense, 1 didn't want to deal with it. And, f was thinfing, There" got to be somdhing better to do here, "(Male white science swikher)
Sbhy groups have to deal with strong fwulty prohibitions against plagiarism, md with the hostility of other sbdents who fix1 that refusing to compte on one% o m is a form af c h a t h g , we shall diauss the sipificance of such groups in the swtiaa oat peer group laming later.) These sludents distanced themelves b t h from the wmpetitive stmggle and its s u p p s d rewards by g their educational objectives within m alternative set of f fe goals: X've always said that I'm happy with Bs ...bmause X do ai lot of other things. I can't just sit at home and study. f. work, and f have other things that interest me. (Female native Amekean mathmaties switcher)
The Wwd-hit Tmdition Wd--out"is a long-wtablished t d i t i a n in a number of acarlernie disciplines, but it is dominant in all S.M.E. majors. It has a semi-legitimate, legendary status and is part of what gives S.M.E. majors their image of hardness. It is, thus, m i mt fwture in s&dents?infamal prestige r a i n g system, both for individuals, and for majors, disciplines, or sub-specialtizs. 'Weed-out' strategies are perceived as a test for both ability and character and are the main mechanism by which S.M.E. disciplines seek to find those students presumed to be the most able and interested. There are no references to weedout system in official literahrre, and when questioned, deans and faculty may be evasive, or deny their existence, W&-out systems parallel the hazing practices of military academies and fraternities. These practices are also officially denied or suppresd, but flourrsb because they are thought to serve
vaIud functions which are difficult to d i e v e by other m repfied that they were 'W&& out-ypieally went on to explain which aspwts of the "4-out"rmess bad bwn critiaZ in their decision to Iave, Some of in the wtions on under-preparation: problems these have d r d y b n diwu with curricular pace aad I~ad,the effsts of assssment md grding pmctices, and the comptitive atmsphere to which these practices contribute. Students become aware of a w d + u t system in their S,M,E, elmses in one of three ways. It m y be diratly referencd by a d m or faculty member: W e n I weat 10 the- orientaition \Nith my mom, the dean adualfy sat there and said, R a n %be surgrised if about thrm-floutlhs of the: gexrpEe sitting here don't make it---particularly not in four years, "(Female white engineering nonswitcher) They do the usual s p w h : %oak to the right of you; look to the left of you. Forty p e r m t of you won't be here next year," think that's the shndard s p m h at every university. (Male black enginwting non-switcher) The freshman advisor for the engineet-ring school gave us a little laIk about the number of incoming fmshmen they e x p t to lose each year.. .They swm to k m p v q aecurate reeords on this, (Male white enginwsing non-switcher) 'Only 25 prcent of you are going to go on and bmanze enginmrs, W e said that in the very first class. And I thought, 'This isis making me feel good.' (Female white enginm~ngswitcher) But, of coume, you hear through all your basic level classes, 'This is a w e d t in eXass that they're doing this out class.The professor will tell you ~ g hthere deliberately-making it exwptionally had-to scare the p p l e out that they don%think can cut it in engineefing. They try to get them to fail on p u v s e . (Female white enginm~ngnon-swigcher)
The existence of a weecl-out system is dso widely discussd amng stu-
dents-both within, and across, years: The word would always lac, 7% many of you are wing to flunk this class, no matter what you do, "It%sort aE an unw~tten,unspken thing that goes b a ~ k and fofth bdwwn students, (Male white science switcher) X got it through the grapevine at orientation, biking to the students that were our advisors. (Mafc: whik enginmring switcher)
The sophornores who were on my floor who had alrady &ken the ehsses I was about to take were always saying, 'O~ooh,that" a a d - o u t class!' And it kind of scares you, (Female Asian-American science non-switcher)
system also b a m e evident to fadents k a u w of the ways in which their c u ~ c u l aare constmcted, classes are orgiulid and hugfit, or assessment and grading practices are set up:
W&-out
f i e Learning hperiance
224
It wasn't t a t it was all that hard: it was just too much. f left with the fwling that, "by, they are really m&hg this hard far people. '...I think they m&e the ehsses so big so the ones they th* are goad-the ones who ean handle the lad-a keep going, and the r a t will just go away. mab Hispanie It's Gdiculaus that t h q make you learn that much in so much d&iX---because you never, ever n d it all. You just look it up in a book if you need it, So X t h a they c2a try ta W& p g E e out that way. (Male whiw enghwhg nons~tcker) You get the impression it's intended to fare@you out the f h t time yau go to cheek your test g d e p s t d on the wall. k"ou s a that the median grade for Physics 1 is, like, 30 prcent. And you rmlize, V a w , that" the way the professor designed the test,' (Male Asian-herican engineering switcher) Wen you have a dass average for Chernistxy 103 that gives you a B for seores of 62, I say that's bwause they3e trying to fgil you out. (Female white e n g i n m h g switcher) For the exams, they ehaose questions an things that dank tatter just to eabh pmple out. Xt's so blabnt, (Female white science non-switcher) Pmple g&discouragd when they are g i v a such hard tests t h d no one p s s e s them, Then they cume the scores. M a t " the p i n t of giving a test which you h o w everyone is going to fail? It's san idwlogy X just can%udderstand. I guess they want to w e d pmple out: but &ere are a lot of good students in there. (Female white seienee switche-r)
bfnder-clmsmen also became aware of the W&-out purposes of their htrductorqr clmsw by their appmisal of facufty attitudes toward them. 3 % ~ deveto@ the strong impression that fseulty who taeh W&-out classs were, at best, indifferent, unadng or unapproachable, md at wrst, positively hastile toward them: In Physics 161, it dicin" swm like they were interest4 in what they were dahg, "They didan" care. They had b&kr things to do. It was like, 'We're trying to ffai yau, ta cut you down."enzale white enginwkng switcher) Xt was like, Weye gonna m&e this harder on you guys, bwause we don't want just anybody wing into enginmI.ing. "Male white enginmhng switcher)
men
]I
was a first-year student, just the general i.i#itude among the faculty
smmed to be, 'Lam this stuff and get your grade, or you won't be back,'
(Male white engkaring non-switcher) ff everybody failed the test, then the tacher behavd as if no one w s studying or knew their stuff: W y didn't t h e think that maybe the class was going too fast, or that the test wasn? that good? (Male Hispanic mathematics switcher) It was at this point E thought that the school was out to get undergraduaks. (Male black enginearing switcher)
It's sort of the old attitude, 'W's make it Uugh for &em md g& 154 o f the tf~sh.We" skim the top for the pke,"(RXale while: s ~ i e n wswitcher) I've nrtticed that in most of thae classes the pmfws~mhave a tendency to hate They jwt want you out-unlas yau am hard core. (Fmale white enghmAng swibher) The h c h w w8s relatively young: I ffi* he had just high& mdwtle; school-and he was kind of cold m4 cynial-bda &G, 3 T o w a lot of you am going to drop out, so you mist as W& do it now so that &a mt;o f us wn get on with this thing,' (Femafe:white enginmring sVVitchc=r)
The f a t obwmatian undermm our am-that awepmce of, and suppart for, the w d b u t prmm, is a mtter of profwsional socialiuitinn. We noticed that w ~ o r who s were p1 g aeade&c a r w r s had b p n to express the same towards swi&her~,and the =me mtionale far the wd*ut as fmIitIy* $ & d a b quicMy learn& that, nowithshding the ofieial systsm of facutty advisoss, it ww difficult ta g& help, Som faeutty did not ketsp heir office tudmts fiom ~ G r x gtheir hdp vvitfi. @&G help hard to get ts must be r d y to You eouldn't tafk to your pmfwsor, The classes were so big that they didnvt want t;o give any prsonal awntian. It was almost &e they were against, =&er than for, the studeat, wale white science non-swit~her) The dean just said, "SW, You "re: in it; it" too late. Youkre just gonna have to deal with it. T h e y say they" there "e help you, but, when the t h e corn= that you have a real problm, they kinha turn thek back on you, and tefi you to do it on your own basi~ally.X don't tee why it's nwssary for them t~ do that-when they have the: p w a r to help you, but choose not to. (Male white mgineahg switcher)
$&den& able, without hesitation, to r w u n t wsch were the "W&-out clwses" in their disciplirxe, From a. fmus group af sierxce switchem: Enkmiewer: Are there any psrlicuIar classa that are know as weed-out classes?
Thrw voices m i t e simulbneausly: You have C h m 103, Chem 106..,
This litany v a ~ dvery little from a q u s to campus: it always included pa&icularcalculus c l a w , argmic ehe&stv, a d myem8 wrty physics clams. Las uniivemlly mation& were some intrduetary biology ef general e h e ~ s t qche&al , wlcuhtions md cireuitry. Some higher level clmses were also cited m conthuing the w d * u t prme;ss into late mphamore or junior
y a r : malytie ehedstry, m i m l cell biology, elwtromgnetics md some e h e ~ e aeaiginw~ng l classes, Both from the direet &tern& of d m s ancl h u l t y , md by the way the cunre-gradhg s p b m o p m t d , swdeaits had fairly clmr idens a b u t the praprtion of my class that wm e x p t e d , or rsqutrd, to fail or to lmve. m e i r estimtw of what they assum4 were sfieial departmmtal attrition hrgeb rmg& from 30 prcent ta 75 percent, with a m d i m of axoundt 50 percent, Seniom reported that, in retrospt, their estfmtes had pravd pretty mcurate, They also had a v i m 1 imprmsion of bow the W&-out by shifts in the clafisroorn sating patterns in their classes: You can always tell, There's what we call the 'TLthe students in the front two rows and down the middle-theyke the A student-s, and everybody else, you're gonna lose. By the time I got to the upper division, I could walk into a ckss and tell you whose grade's gonna be what. E m a n , you didn" need to take the class any more. I could have assigneid the grades just by who was there. (Male white science non-switcher)
I used to be a back-sat prson, and I" now more frontsat, Just based on swting, you ean see whether they want ta be there, whether it's a rquirement they just have to Wke, where the inkrests of most p p l e tie, and whether t h q k e gonna make it. ("Femalewhite science non-switcher)
Seniors also assum& that these aittdtion rates were intend&, and that their size was a eonsmt, regardless of variatiom in the calibre of particular st-udent cobortdi: Thc=ykeprobably not surgksd that they lose as many people as they do. (Male white engheering non-switcher)
They have a certain number of people they would like to scare off in the sciences, and they are preay proud of hitting their targ& praty accurakly.. .. They certainty do have a figure: it" published on the bulldin board outside of the first physics ~lasses,..meseare the figures they are shoothg for, (Male white enginmring non-swit~her)
Undergradwte w d + u t lore included stories about departments md individual profmsms who came to be wtt m over-=tous in their w d - o u t strabgies: Well, if youke only got 10 majon; that y a r , f know the d a n s are not going to be r a I pleslsed-I mmn, if you skrt out with a big chemistry class and youke onEy IeA with l0..,and the psychology department's got $,WO and youke g a i n g mere funding, you" bbet.ter be ready to justify that in same way. (Male white scienm non-switcher) Some af them evm tell you theyke going to mess you up. Some of them have reputations for it-like f heard one is on pmbation for failing too many. (Male whik seienee non-swikher)
B e Learning fiperience
X22
They had to bIk to this prafwsor. You didn? t e this class until your fall quamr, senior year. ff you fail, you have ta come back for another year, h d tkzey fmaiIy takd to h& and said, 'You're failing too many students. We can" afford to do this, Wa you plmse just pass them?"Male white scien~e
non-s~tcher) Students assusled that the w d - o u t q s k m had two m j o r ol?jectives; it is a way to sift large intake clmm for i n t ~ s i intermt, e talent and fortitude, while, at the =me time, d m t i d l y rducing the large entry cfwses to a size that departments am handle in the upper divisim: You have to get rid of the extra 2 , m or 3 , W p p f e enroUed in the eaume so thrrt you can get down to the w p l e who you rally want. (Male white e n g k m h g switcher) It's such a w d - o u t program because the school can%afforci to keep all of the pwple who are raUy good-just a small percentage: of them. (Mate white enghwting swilcher)
I think undergraduate admissions is very keen an having science-orient;cd p p l e admiW. Then that puts the bur-den on the chemistry and physics depafiment to get rid of so many of' them, (Female urhite science switcher) f thought, 'At same point it's got& g& asim. I mean, youke ect eveqbody &e:
out,m i t e male science non-switcher)
Mmy shdents did not question the a b j ~ t i v of e rducing numbrs, md rnost did not p r o p = alternatives to this reduction prwess, unless prromptd to do so. The W&-out process acts as a post hoe sefwtion system which avoids mnRict with the ideal of open entxy to higher ducation, Having bmn raised with the demwratic ethic of the Amencm educational system (which includes the idea that rnost p p l e should be able to go to college if they have the desire and entry qwlifications), most students were uncaxnfoable with the id= of a more wlective or competitive systetn of college awess. With the n o a t e exception of students at the private remrch university (who were chasm by competitive selecrion at a level a b w basic entry requirements), mast prefend to rehin the cltment system in which entry rquirements are set at a moderate level, and a bighIy eompeCitive sefection of students is made after, rather thm hefore, coliege entry. Afthough they disliked the w&*ut syskm, md often thought it worked cantrafy to its aim of ~Ieetinl;the best students, on balance, the;y were prep=& to tolerate it rather than to firrther restrict college entry or aecess to fresh S.M.E. elassefs: Anybody that can gd in, I think they should give them a chance. So in a weird way, f V sort of defend the way engineering does it...l think you kinda I d as many as possible: go into it, and then you have La wean out stringently. I think that" how it has to be done. The other side to that is I know they are losing
a lot of good students in thei process. m e m k dmhacks either m y . (Male white en&e&g s ~ t c h e r ) The prefamee for a more s t h g a t pre+ntv selection p
h&quantly vaicd: It swms: like yau let a lot of m p l e in, and then you try to weed a lot, of p p I e out. 1 t h it would ~ be b&er to work the other way around and m&e it hader to g& in, so you don't have k, have the w d % g out pmwss once you g& in, (Male whib mghineering skkher)
Na one discourages you from being a ginmhg student, althctugh only a smUI number w4.H be aUow& into the major, The whole huge class mi&t have all the q u b i t w , but them% nno way they can ever let &em aU; in, They b v e to dischinab somehow.. .I would =&er have known up front. ft would have been kinder to know that only the top 10 of the huge number were actually going to be a w e p u . In a five-ymr school, &is selatian prows adds another whole yyear, w a l e white e n g h m h g sdbher)
Sbden@with p r o f w ~ i o spiriiEian8 ~l undersmd the a d to ratdct m t q to thow prof~siam,They tcmk it for g r m u that it wm part of the facmlliy role to keep t h aumbr ~ of g d w - at m mm1, level which broadly m t c h d the nmmbr of j o b available, md thw, to p r o e t professional mlaq levels. 'This b e t i o n af the w d - o u t sysbm dws not serve my adelcnic puvose. h effwt, g the tmditiana! gab-kwping role of afI prafmsional W i e s , &om mdieval pitds onwards: The class beiow us is 170,and we have close to 100. So X h sure that" gonrta put same pmssure on faculty, "cause it% bbe harder for us to get jobs. male whik engineekg non-switcher) f guess a lot of p p l e want to come into e n g i n m ~ & g m u s eit's a prestigious job, It's B Iot of money right when you S&&;it" a promising carwr, and you a n m&e good money, so a. lot of p p l e want Co do it, f guess, if you had everyone dahg it--l mma, bere are only so many jobs out there;, So they have ta w a d out over half, (Male whib enginahg s ~ k h e r )
I don't t* they dare m&e it easier: there wufd be too many enginmrs, and p p l e wouIdn%t k e so m u ~ hmoney, (Female white engineehng swikher) Oh, f it% mainbin the prestige of the pmfession-nly quaEfid pmple; in, (Male white mgineering non-gwitcher)
to let highly
It is natabte that the w e e d 4 tradition is particularly strong in thaw S.M.E. the profm~iona(ma& notably, enginmhg rund the mdical professions) as vvell as in non-3,N.E. mjors-such as =counting md law-which also i d ta prafwsional armm:
mere" sa ntq-$eve1accountingclass: that is defmitely W&-out, It's intend4 to ciiscoumge p p f e from applying to bushess school, mat% wvvh it's for. (Female A s i a n - h e ~ c a nscience s ~ t c h e r )
The t h w years of s s s W y W= a pried in w ~ c h m~om in science a d =themties formw difficultieis in muring wll-rernmemtd work following grsduation, m p i a l f y in a d e d c earwrs. Many h& came to dmbt whether their dwisian to shy in scsimce or mthemties had b n wise, given what one "orin physics a l l & its " p r profitto-gn.ef ratb. Engiomrs, by m t m t , mw &emelves as stiff able to co reward far their hard work, a d wem more dis~omf~fis of their mjors, e saond mjor frxnction of the W&-out syst~m,W perceived by our , was to identify which studten& were best fitted to continue in the th witcherg md non-swikhem srsemd r d y tQ accept that, in principle, this was a rwonable aim, Most thought it preferable to a pre-college selwtion prows which p l a d mare responsibility an; the high school system y of them had g d rason to doubt: I t h it%~a good w d e r b w u s e they" workkg at a rally high theoretical level, and they're looking for people who can think in that thmr&ical way. (Male white science switcher) X" not one of the more inteuigmt students in my chsses, and I have to stnrggle to keep going. But those who left rfidn? want that. So X think the weed-out system has maybe accompIished its p u v s e . (Mab white wginmring non-switcher)
If you fail your Tist two chemistry classm, you probably aren" going to get into med scfiool..,In a sense, it% s araality chwk, (Female white seienee nonswitchet-) f guess it's aaXmost like the survival of the frttegt. If you esn't do it, you weren't meant lo. (Fiemale whle science swhher)
It's sort of the fire that forges the sward, If you make it through, you know you" m&e it through modern physics a d real analysis: there" sothhg $tapping you. (Male white seimee non-switcher)
E know p p l e who are on the dge-who are not quite sure if this is for them, mere% organic chemistry, real analysis and madem physics, which are all tailor-made ta force you to make up your mind to be, or not to be, in that major. (Male white science non-switcher)
I" h c k d to think that they're doing a good job, and I just eouldn" deaf with it. I don't think it raises the calibre of the sbdents, but at least if.makes sure that all of the p p X e it? it are serious. So I guess it does sewe some p u p s e . However, it. can be a bit ugly. (Male whik engineering switcher)
130
27Ee Learning mperienee
As the above extracts indicate, stzldenh are vvilling to accept testing for ability, ~ ~ o u m eof s sint~rmtand willingnas b work hard. However, they w r e not always c o n v i n d that the w d q u t system achiwa this and often saw it- as eounter-prduetive. "l%e e m p h i s on shtdent selectian ovrjr t a c b g explahs why courw matefial is prewatd at a pace which d ~ v e sstudents away, It also explaks why studenb learn to memahm at the ercpnm of eomprehension, why $ h a s who prsist o&en have kufficient coaeepbl grasp, and why those who ater with m irrterwt in rseien~eare apt to lose it: I th= itss b a e r to learn fewer ahgs well, &an to h o w a tittle about a miElian things which you just skimmed ove-r-l&e in that calculus class. m e n you go on to the next cIass, and they assume you know things you never did properly. (Male Hispanic maaematies switeher) There's a danger that you aren%giving people who are going into science ar enginmring the rally good, saLid base that they n d . (Mate white enginmring non-switcher)
I didn" see why it was nmessary to helude that in the freshman y a r , It wasn" nneeessary for the squence, h was only nwessary as a way to filter pwple out. (Male black enginwhng non-switcher) Designkg a class to be hard, and not bmause it's good to t a e h rt gafiicular thing-I don" tsee the practicality there, Like memorizing organic rmctions-it% s a t to know you can do a frR@n-slep raction, but unless that tmches you some sort of p&eiple that you can apply, what good does it do? (Male white science switcher) Volt lose a lot of the essence of dohg chemistq. It came down to who could rnemohze the best. And what it did was to a e the seicnee away ffom it. It stoppd being sciecnce, and turned into a sort of competition. You really lost that good Ievel of laming in that cXa8s. The long-tern scars are just an absolute disinterest in the field, You never understood the act;ual mechanisms that crated the reaetians, We would just say, These are the three rmchns. Qne of them will be; on the exam, Memorize all three.' I don't t h i k that's laming. I was rmlly turn4 off &king a hturt: interest in it, (Male white science non-switcher)
hilost shzdents r m p t e d those who show& sufficient d e t e ~ n a t i a nto gersevece through and beyond the W&-out classes. However, they question4 whe&er the W&-out system was a reliable way to identi9 students with the ptentiaI to bwome gmd scientists and engineers, and w a d e d whether faculty h e w how m n y good salteats were last in the process: Their in2enr;ion is 'ta get rid of the pespXe that would not be so good in the miijor-but that's not a proof of it, (Male Asian-American science switcher)
They lose quality pe-ople.. .Some that, with Just a few more years, would have made the kind of engineering studenfs they would have liked, and would have
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brought the profession more into balance. (Male white enginwdng nonswitcher) It's bad that they use these courses to w e d studenb out, X knew p p l e that dicfnt want t;o go on after that exvPienee, but they were good students who liked laming, (Female white science non-switeher) They do it by kthidating you, They think theyke g&ting rid of all the wim~ay peopleethe p p l e who area%t m g work hitrd. I think they rally betieve that" what they're doing. The head of the dvadment would always make things sound mueh harder than they were, and w u l d tell us we were stupid, and give us exam questions that ns one muld answer. I had several ffiends-all warn=-who switch& out. They were capable p p l e , but they were just so intimidat& by the professors and the male students. (Female white science non-switcher)
I thought; the frrst enginm~ngclass X had was kinds silly, and it was rally a s y , and I was with some other people who thought so too. ..But we itefr,and went into other things. (Female Asian-Amefican engineecing switcher) Owsionally, we met a student wha not only illuminated faeets of a problem &rough their o m story, but who also offitred a coherent malysis af its caums. The folllowing (from a mle, whik, enginmring switcher d the highly-selective rims the latent dysfunctions of the W&-out which are highly consistent with our &h: m a t it does to people is to W& them out psychologically. W e n p p l e come in with inherent daub& about whdher they are mmnt for the field-espially women, and minoriLy stuiudenb-they don%have that base of self-eonfidenee, They are less l&eIy to tell themselves that weryone else is having the- same problem, bwause their confidence is more fragile,..The tacher believes he is @ling for ability, but in fact, he's testing for selfesteem and seff-confidence, I don't tthnk he consciously knows that, but it still has that effmt...The weedout system has side-effats that professors are nut aware of. They accept that they are losing pmple, but may net realize that they are losing peapfe unevenly from different cat~gories.,,They'refine with the faet that pmple: are vvdd out. They want a core of ddicated p p l e . But, what they 're not rmlizing is that people are also being w d d out, not so much in tems of ability, but in tems of other qualities. (Male white enginw~ngswitcher) Shdents also MW the W&-out system working in ways that contradict4 its value as a t s t of chraekr and were corrcemed that it errcouragd some less a d ~ r a b X eqwlities, They saw it as both mcauraging md providing a rationale for cht=-ating, It also Tnade students suspicious, gmdging and nnthless in their behavior towards each othw, d i s w u r a g d the deveitopmmt of collaboration and nication skills, and instill& the idea that failure is rz normal part of lmming siencf;.
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Ihe Learning Experience
The most serious criticisms of the weed-out system, however, focused on its disproportionate impact on men of color and on a11 women. Even wellprepared, these two groups tend to enter basic classes feeling uncertain about whether they 'belong'. The loss of regular contact with high school teachers who encouraged them to believe in their ability to do science exposes the frailty of their self-confidence. Faculty who teach weed-out classes discourage the kind of personal contact and support which was an important part of high school learning. It is, as some students described it, a 'weaning away' process by which faculty transmit the message that it is time to grow up, cast aside dependence on personally-significantadults and take responsibility for their own learning. This attitude is perceived by students in the reluctance of teachers to answer questions, brusqueness in response to 'trivial' inquiries, failure to offer praise or encouragement, disinclination to discuss academic difficulties in a personal manner, carelessness in keeping office hours, and a 'no excuses' stance on test results. The difficulty of getting personal attention was troubling to many students, but it was especially troubling to those whose presence in S.M.E. classes was the result of considerable personal attention and encouragement by particular high school teachers. Forcing students to compete for, or learn to do without, help and attention, was an important part of the problems reported by women and by men of color (as well as some white men). This arises because the system has evolved in an exclusively white and male context. It tests for qualities of character traditionally associated with 'maleness' in Anglo-Saxon societiesand is based on miivational strategies understood by young men reared in that tradition. The cues are more likely to be missed, and the messages lost on students whose education was grounded in different normative systems. The disproportionate effects on women and men of color arise as an unintended s i d e effect of the intention to force young, white men to become self-reliant. Among many women and young men of color it produces feelings of rejection, discouragement and lowered self-confidence. The weed-out system works as it is meant to work for young white men, who are more likely than young women to switch in response to its more overt features-especially the overwhelming pace and load, and fierce competition for grades. Women were much less discouraged by these aspects of the weed-out process than were young white men. We shall discuss these issues in more detail in the chapters concerning gender, and race and ethnicity. Students wondered how much of the system was consciously designed, how much was part of an unthinking, learned tradition, and how well faculty understood its counter-productive consequences. S.M. E. faculty do not necessarily define high attrition rates as problematic: 'attrition' was discovered, and defined as a 'problem', not by science and engineering faculty, but by academics in other fields and by those concerned with labor economics or public policy. Notwithstanding S.M.E. faculty's focus on identifying the 'best' students, our data suggest that the proportion of students allowed to proceed to
m h new sbge in 3 t1 w mjom is pred who& of new swdents, they wtimte the mge of ability in my avemg@ @ dean~nstmM what p r o p d i m they will dimrd. 'I% laval of s u a n &va&ed mrom the m v a diffemnt hstitutionsby the entmw rquimmnb wem a, md by tbe degrm of seiXs?ctivily d t t h g S.M.E. n d e r g d w ~ D . . q i t e this, we b t s i ~ l apropfiiom r
of
[email protected]; would try inslitutiarrs did not weeh out did mare operrmtry sbte institutions, leas of their fiifly qwlified in wen though the quality of their f r m b e n who& was much higher. Many of the 40 to SO prcent of students w d e d out at comptitke-entry schwls could have %bm' oaf S.M.E. mjom h less seletive instibtions. This f a t was not last an students who, with hdsight, felt they would have done bett~rhad they enter& their o w state wivmity, The followhg wm ofkreid by a m l e white engirrmhg wikher at a bigMy-sdwtive p ~ v a t ermarcb university: Xn my high school, X did really well, and my tmehem thought f was a future; enfimr-that it was a dven, So &en I got a placc: hem-and l[ saw all my ffiends who didn't do o well at high school as I did geahg straight As at eoUegeg bwk home. Those are; still very good sehaols, But they didn't have the gmblems rhat I had hem,,,Beeause, it vvas fie you had to tach yourself. Gohg to lature was eompl&~Iy vvorthless,..Manwhib, my f ~ e n d back s home did rmEy we& Inkmiewer: M y didn't you go back? M y didn" XI"? Bmause it's (name af the;univemity).
The Umuppo~veCulture SRrdents identifid a numbr of needs whiefx they m k to mwt by approachg faculty md other advisors:
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d v i w on c & e ~ md c earMr dbmatives and haw best to pumue them
ion on r q u i r d courses and appropriate queneing ixr order to fulfiljt particular degrm rquirrdments
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hdp in unders-dhg
the a d e d e m t e ~ a prmented l in particular
classes
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pmctiwl help or advice with problem that impinge an a d e d c c@-mpeeially problem with finafzces, employment, time conflicts, halt&md other personal mtters
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somwne to @e a p m n a l interat in their progrss, pro'lafem a d overall a r w r dimtion
Failure to h d d q w t e advice, coumlbg, or htorial help wm cited as wntributiag to o n e q a r t ~(24.0 r 5%) of all witching decisions; it was mention4 as a sour% of fmtmtion by tbm-qw&m (?S,$ %) of all switchers (for whom it was the *rd most n source of complaint); md it was a isme raisd by half (52.0%) of -swikhers, for whom it wm the swond most y c i d eoncem. h a n g all of the fmtors cantzibuting to attfition, shdent difficulties in getting appropriate help is the &tor which is most clearly derived fmm flaws in the institutionat stmeture. We found tbat most srurlenb bad exxpitrienced some problem with the suppoft system at all of the mven institutiow*However, the p c e i i v d effwtiveness of particular advice a d eounseting sewices varied as much witkn campurns as bewwn them. On every earnpas, we found gaps, over-laps and confusion in the division of resp~sibifitybewmn depfiments (or colleges), central advising wmices a d advisbg program for under-represat& groups, One of the most difieult problem for freshmen is to Xwrn how the campus systt=m of advising, counseling and tutorial semices works quieuy enough in order to prevent s m l l problem brit bwa Everything d e t e n d me from going on. I was fmling like t h a e was nobody I could ga to talk; ta,.,X thought, Well, X" d&kr switeh now. I don" want Ea end up a year down the road still in thL major when it's sot going to work out. ' (Female white seienw skteher) Xf I had had a good counselor who uderstosd, auld who could have made same suggestions, I would probably not have dropped out a f aerospace. I ~ a u i d have: taken the classes I'm m b g fight now, and dwided later, I felt like I'd wasted a semester, but didn't know what else to do, If I'd just had a good counselor, I know I could have got it 811 straight in my mind. (Male white engineering switcher)
re particularly at risk because they often need several different sirnultanmusly-advice: about carwr altemativm, accurate t choice and sequencing of classes, help to set up fraance and work-study plans, tutorial help with early academic difficulties and personal encouragement. Students t ~ n dto see their problem as interrelated, and would prefer to discuss them as such. They are likely to seek some mixhlre of advice concerning carwr dirwtion, eourm i n k tion, agoring, and encouragement from a single p m h s o r or professional advisor, and h o m e frustratd with support system whieh assign each kind of problem to a different agency:" You don" get, an individual faculty advisor. It rohtes day-by-day. Almost all of the professors are nice guys, and they m a n well, but they don" really
e x p t students to Gome h and tttk about problems they are having with their elasses, (Male w h b seienee non-switcher) no help there"^ an adviaor sysw-but that" jjut to choose classes. with t h g s you fmd difficult to undembnd-unless you could get the: guts to approach the profasor. (Male white science non-switeher)
Studmts borne fru&mW with the splinh~ng:of supprt funetions beWwn diflerent aid~sistmtiveu~ts,the ume1ititziXity of the advice thq sometimm rmive, md the dificulty of finding the rigfit agency for particular kinds of prablem: You raUy fix1 lost in the shuffle, Nobody rmlXy b o w s where to tell you Ea go to get advice with a problem. You can go to the dean, but he doesn" know what to do eitfier, I m a n , who can you turn ta? (Female whik mathematics sktcher) It's rally hard b figure out This is what you do and this is where you go," m e n I was a f ~ s h m e n it, was so confusing, (Male white engineering nonswitcher) It's fmstrathg whc=nyou can't g& hdp. But if it's not good help, then it's even more fmstntkg, (Male Hispanic science non-switcher) Well, all I got vvas the Xiale bookie that they gent us. E didn" get any b d of advice on what kbd of classes ta a e , (Female black enginering nanswikher) I was never asgigniea somwne I could ga and sp& with-to n&e sure that I was sing all the right things, I just kind of Roatd through the system. (Female white enginw~ngswitcher)
It is, prhaps, not suv~singthat freshmen find it difficult to nwigate the; istrative mmplexities of large, unfal~liareampwes. However, it would be mier to d i s ~ s their s re;prt-sof difficulty in finding appropriate sourcw of help as a purely tempmv problem were it not for the mtixxrsny af half of the non-switchbg wniors who repdex;f that confusion a d gaps in provision of supprt had continad thaughout their a e a d e ~ ccarers: There aren't any advisom. That's another problem with this department, Every semeskr I get all my advising by going around and harassing some af the professors that I've had. I don't h o w how anyone else manages it. (Male white mathematics non-switcher) I"ve never s s n an advisor, No-actually E did see one when I had to frlf in my senior pack& to graduate-weu, I saw his s m r d r y , and she bid that.. .X wish I had someone I could go to-somwne who was assigned, or that I chose--so, aRer a whse, they'd know who you were, (Female white science non-switcher)
.
I wkh I would have had some rrrivling, ,I don" t o w if faculty don't know the syskm, or if &eyke just not h k m s W , w a l e whik e n & w ~ g nsn-swikher) Nobody ever said, Wey, &ern%a a a ~ a arysw f ttva&ble. Vt was more like a "onsumer b m a m 9 y p of &g. Ancl no one ever sat down w W scimee non-gkbher)
If I was the dean, I would make sure fscult-y hew em~aywhat eoumes their majors b d to We. That wiaufd be tbe h t thhg. Emuse they b d a screw& me up. The h a d of m w h i e d e n & w h g &Id me to the wong mume. He put me behind a whole s m w b r , (Male Whpnie en
Studencks' most basic n d is relialible info ion a b u t wGch clmses ta tdce to mmmplish paHicdar a d e e r i e goals in m appmpristem u a c e and time-fratoe. 'Ike official task of giving m u m direetioa is o h n split bemm facufiy and fessional advisors. Hawever, &dents dsa g& in ion or advice from i d progmm dirwbrs, shdent counmlam, afficiaf libmum, departmenhl tal msismts as their most reliable wurces of iaif~ rquiremenb and hstibtional mlm: We have an award that we give to advi-sors eveq year, and, p&y consismntly, the lady that whs it i s the dqa&ment hmd% s w r d r y . . .I t h a tht's p r a y h n i c h a u s e it's s u p p s d to be one of the h u l t y k srolw, but 8he9s the one we; alJ go to if them's s acriisis, (Female white enginwhng nonswitcher)
She in the dqartment offiw and she m E y k q s an eye an studenb.. -1 always double chwk chsseg with her, I've gat sort af a saf&y net &ere. If it hadn" bwn for her, I'd be in a big mess, (Male A g i a n - h e ~ ~ aengheerirzg n non-switcher)
ion h u t which to avoid, came from sMetsts who h d e x p ~ m them. d Use strongly d v w w as survivali stmtegim. camplabt of both switchem and non-witchers ww the chasm a particular class sequence on the basis af which subseqwntly proved to be kwcumk. . &ng clmm ini the wrong order; &ssbg classs which were offer& irzfrquently; failhg to take pre-rquisites; b k g excluded from d m i d spidties; and delay& g d m t i o a , We caXlecM ia large sample of iatragmic probIem-tfiat is problem students would have avoided had they not foHawd advice from an official wurw: And the professor said, 'Oaf course, I don't tkav e explain this thmrern, because you had that tvvo y a m ago in IMaa m.' h d I was bt21Uy thrown, For some rason, the Gourse cablog made no mention of this prerquisite.. .I
S&&& at a higher math level because my advisor burn@ me up several ehsses on the basis of my S.A.T. SW=, Big m i s a e , I had trt drop that class, and go bacharbs b pick up the m&&. I lost two smestem over that. fMiafe whik e n g h m h g gwitcher)
mey don" llet you b o w that, far some of your upwr-level w r k , you have ta p m q u k i k s , h d they don%tell you that mme eoumm are only offer& in the fall, and athem only in the spring. @ernab white mgiPlsAng nansktcher) She didn" t o w that it dgn% taunt for my major. It didn" count for anything in the end, (Fmale whib m g b w ~ gskbher] Por the first ymr, she advise-rf me to w e into it, and gave me all these classes that had nothing ta do with b i ~ ~ o g y ~ x c microbiology-and ept that didn't her, and signed up. Female blaczk science count as it turn& out, ..X just swieber)
I brought my tmnse~ptpt, and show4 him the classes f hiid e e n and a s k d if they were okay far what X want& to do, He said, 'Yes,' when he should have said, 'No, "male whiite enghwhng switcher) f never h e w exactly whether or not I was playing by the conmt rules, because it swm& like I t;tk&to one prson, and they'd say somc=thing;and X'd d a tE k to sornwne eke and tkteyV ssay somding else,. .And t h q definiwly n d to g& thek T.A,s a d v k d about how the syskm works. I m a n , even the d a n didn" know what to do. (Female white mathematics switeher) I'm gonna, end up b&ng here a full five years, and that tvouldn" have happned if X 'd haad some good advising along the w y . Every semwter the advisor told me what to a e , and I ended up with all these classes which didn't t c n t for the mjor. X neairly lost my scholarship, and bad to wfite an appal to explain what had happne6. male Hispanic enginmhg switcher) m e y dgned his papr, and said, 'Youkv got all the stuff you n d . ' men it came t h e to gmduak, he was missing one class, and had ta come back for another semester just to take it. (Mala: black enginm~ngswbher)
I was 1 4 down the ggrden path. 1% ttryhg ta kmp myself under rmtraint here: r would probably involve foul words. They withheld any h ~ h e descG@ion infornation; they told me things t h t wer~n% tme ...n e consquenees were that I m a v d campuses when I didn't have to. f could have s b y d where I was; kept my jab; fmishd in four yeacrs; and saved myselS; eansematively s p k i n g , about $20,OOC), (Female white science sdtche;r)
From a focus group af enginmfing non-switchersI a'ked if X was going ta have any probbrn hking some of these upper-level classes in the summer while X was W-anping, h d he said, "SE, no problem, " Wen I went to register I found out they never offer these classw in the summer, it nwrly mst me my graduation date.
I've been screwed over by advisors who didn? know the policy about which classes transfemd from community college, and which classes you n&ed to take to k w p your seholamhig, It% oone of the rasons I'm not prirsuing il master" degrw here. X cautdn"t fmd out how to go about it without actually acg~f~hg.
Students lmk for tvvo kinds of help with their emic carwr paths: help errrwr dirwtisn bmed on the alternatives open n on haw best to navigate a path they have alrmdy chosen. Faculty s e m more suit& to the first task, professional advisors to the second. 1EXawevr=r,the division of tabor is often uncfar, and shdents c m get into difficulties by askixxg for the kind of help which an advisor is not qualified ta give. This m y reflect their coaEusioxl a b u t whom to ask; sonnetixrta it refleets flaws in the advisory system. Most students Ioalc for someone with whom they cm periodically mview their overall academic and carmr stmtegy. For this, they r t d an advisor with padicular knowldge of their discipline, carmr options md instihttional rquirernwts for graduation, who is willing to s p n d time discusskg such issues. Few students smm to find this combination of skills md availaibility in their advisors, I n d d , it may be unrmanable t'o expect them from my single source: She% a rally nice woman, but she% an advisor, She can't know about physics-she just hears things from other students. Once she told me I didn't n& differential quations for thermal dynamics. (Mak white scienee nonSwiteher)
He didn't tknow mueh about the university, or what courses to take, He told us what the rnedieai field was like, so f guess fie was more of a mentor-but he rmlly didn" know much &out the courses. (Female white seienee swibfier) X came in with a pretty specific list of things X want4 to b o w : Would &king these classes help with my majar? I was thinking about doing nutrition, and want4 to know how these classes fit together. ..And he couldn't even find it in the course book. I thou&t, 'He should be able to find it: it's his job!" (Female Asian-American science switcher)
That whole four ycar expehence, my advisor pr&ty much took& at my Iist of coume work and signed it, There was no discussing what you want4 to do five ycars from now-no red planning. (Female white mathematics nonswitcher)
sarch for an appropriate advisor with whom to discuss their progress, to stildents €hiking &out problem, and options is of s p i a f i m p they have experienced are switching, They neert to h o w whether the an to others at this shge in their majar, and should be mlerated as such, or whether tkey indicate a n d to rethink their m r e r plms, They encounbr the practical difficulty that faculty who cm give advice about their discipline h o w little &out alternative carwrs, More ~riously,those who raise the possibility
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of leitving m S.M .E, mjor are often encouraged to switch, vvhether or not this is the right decision: W e n I was in that flux period, thinking about businas school, he didn" heelp me at aU. His ateitude was he was there to help the seienee majors, not p p l e g about transfedg. (Male white science swibher)
I found the science professors very unresponsive-I m a n , in terns of, 'Let's work out what mute you" gooing to take.'. ,*l got the sense they didn't rwlly care if I sulil;chedi majors. (%male Hispanic science swikher) It's either sink or swim. m a t % shere: we lost the most pple-because there was no assistance when they need& to talk about whether they were doing the right thing. (Male white science non-awikher) Interviewer: Did anyone in the chemistry department try to persuade: you to do something else in the sciences?
No, The advisor was prew much indifferent. M e n l came in to see him bmause I was troubld about whether or not I should swikh, it was pretty much like I was an intemuption in his day. (Male white science switcher)
The fmal dwision to switch is usmlly taZEen a 8 ~ ar prolonged stnnggle with an amay of difficulties and is invahably painfut. n o s e close to switching usually with sommne IcnawXedgabIe about the major and want to discuss their dile about other aptims o p n to them. One of the mast distressing of the wikhing process is, therefore, the discovery that there is no exit intemiew with m advisor or dam in the mjor which hey are Iaving: You have to ga to your own dean's office to get the transfer fom, and I assum& that was sa they eould talk to you and see what was p i n g on. But at no point did they suh~gestthis, E went in and said, 'I'd d e a transfer fam," and t h q ask&, W e r e t.o?hand I told them, T h e business school. 'And they said, "ure. Here you are.' (Male white enginefing switcher) Nobody coil& and said they want& to h& to me about my switching dwision. T was disappointeid about that, There was just no raetion. (Male white
e n g i n w h g suJiteher) I did honestly e x p t some sort of exit interview, where you could explain your rasons, and just talk about &-you know, it's a pretty big psychological step-but there's nothing. (Male white engineering swikher)
Students do not nwssarily blame advisors personally for the infornational e. mey undersmd that faculty get na training far their dvisory role with students, and tend ta be I i ~ t in d their howldge af clwses which lie byond their o m disciplines or spialties, They appreciate that professional advisors are working with m overly-complex rquirementsbsystern, with too few trained staff, augment4 by t w m n y pad-time student advisors:
You can go to two diffewnt advisors, and ttrey will tell you two different things &out the same rqukments issue.,..But there are jud too many schools in this univeaity, with so many differat r q u h m e n b that change so oRen that it's h p s s i b l e for them to k q up. I think thew% only one quaEfid full-time advisor for e v q 8 , W studmts. So g h e km a b f (Mab white engkeerhg swikher] It% a long-&m eammitment ta their studan&, and P raka a lot out of &ern, They don't mlly have the t h e to keep up with the w u h m e n t changes, and I don't th* tlrey get any tminhg on how to do it. (Male whik e n g h w h g switcher) Most professors; are just assign& to be advisors. They have no idea what's going on. They don't h o w what to tell students, Some go to tremendous effofis to find out, but most are so busy, they just throw up their hands. The,)l do the b a t they cm, (Female white science switcher)
However, what students eould mt forglive in adwimm was failure to spend t i m with &ern, or take an hterest in them, I n d d , some of the problem they experienced with erronwus mum advice arose h r n the e u m v nabre ;of axivisoxy hkwiews: There were dwisions that were wnong that he didn't stop me from m&kg. They cost me another semwter of sehaol, I just wish I could have s ~ it.nBut I t;hi& he should have caught it and stopped me, Inswd, he just kinda sat there: at his desk and said, 'That21 work, That" okay. "Female white scienm switcher)
I didn" undersbnd how p p f e could look at my transe~ptand not say, There" ssornefiing wrong here. She's dahg we11 in classes that are nonscience, and she" s s~iener=major.' They never said mflhing. They just want& fo h u q up and sign my paper and get: me out of there. (Female Asianh e r i c a n science swikher) X w s unsure about ph,ysies and cfiemidmy. I was unsure about everything, I didn't h o w what X was going to do, But he just said, The;ae look &e good courses,' and sign& it, I didn" t H c to him for more than a minute, (Female white enginwring swikher}
And they just kind of sit there. You have IS minutm to g d through the stamping and the signatures, and then youke out. (Female white cnginm*g non-switcher}
t students w m t d from advisors, a b v e all else, wm personal at@ntion: M a t you actually want is to s p n d some t h e with an advisor who takes the time to know you personally, undwstand where youSretrying b go, and advise what you need to do to get there. (Female white science non-s~tcher)
I was thinking, "endic enginwhg,' and he was a biological sbtistieian. But he was a nice man. f remember him saying, W ~ l l tell , me samething about
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youmelf.' He was the only &visor that ever m1Ey s p a t more than five me. v m a l e white seience #*kher) So- &den& wmplahed that faculty sdvimrs wem negligent a b u t kmpint; office houfs, or w a e othemiw mavaitable:
km
I trykg to eonkct my advisor, but I never did find him, and fmally gave up on h h , I'd leave message8 at his offim, which he" never at. I don't know if he ever g& them. m a l e white e n g i n w ~ gnon-s~teher) W e n I s d k h d majors, X eouldn't go in and ?,a& to my advisor. I was told sbe only had applohtmmb for an b u t and a half on Ffi&y aeemoons, and at no other t h e s . WeU, I had classes then, I don't t o w who she is, but she*$ very unaccwsibte. (Female white engineering switeher)
For mme sudents, the system of assifled advisors completdy broke d o w : My advisor went on sabbatical for WOyarn, I just got to b o w h h a bit, then he was gone. After that, I got t m c k d itround to the advisor of the week.. .W@I got into ehemicalt e n g i n e h g , they assign& me to a professor who was never in his offiee,. .Wm I s h to look ~ for rwommendticms, I had &sofu&ly nobody I could turn to, (Female white enginee~ngsdtehf;r) They assign& me one who wasn't here Eor six months, I was going to different mehers, explaining what I want&, and they signed off on it. I just did it on my own, (Female white mginwhng swikher)
The difieultiesof wder+lassmen ( q ~ i a t l yut ) pemmding faculty to take mme prmnal interm# in them m y arise h a u s e other mpgts of their work have higher professional pfiority. However, t h r e is also a fundamental mnfliet b w m n the fwuIty% safe as a a d e ~ &visor e a d their role as g a t e k ~ e r s As , we: have d r d y d i ~ u s d the , ~ d q u tradition. t rquire;~faculty to adopt a t demmor with shdents in order to disourage them fmm overdependenw*Faculty m y take; m interest in quwtions a b u t a r w r direction, but are less inclined- to discuss problems a b u t class mterials. This is v e q wnfusimg for those sadents wha assume fwulty are s u p p o d to take a prsanal & words freshen use to des~Fibe k b r w t htbeir progress. By far, the eo enwmters with S. M ,E, fwufty art: "unapproachabt e, " ""eoX ," ""unrtvailabfe, " "alosf," "indiffe~nt"and ""iti~datirrg": It's s a e q indifferent kind of atmosphere. They seem happy to talk to you if you have no problems, but as soon as you n& a little help, they are quick to tell you how busy they are, and b w it's aall your mponsibility. (Female whib engineefing switcher)
He told us his office hours, but I haven't gone yd. I feel very h t h i d a t d by him, He does not seem approachabb at all, I%e notied that with a lot of the scimce professors. They swm almost condescending, like, theyye on one level, and we're on another, and there" sno way to mwt. (Female white science skteher)
My advisor rally upset me one t h e . We didn" r a k e I'd had two qua*rs of physics, not two semwters, %ndhe gat rally negative with me, I was so upad. I thought, 'I don't need my a d v i s a r 4 e p m o n who is s u p s & to give me suppft-to b h g me down. "Female white e n g i n a h g non-switcher) f was extremdy distressed after one session wilih him, I don%thhk I ever saw h h agah a k r th&, For a couple of years, I would just cat1 him, and he would lap the form to the outside of his door, (Femab white scimce swikher)
A painhl expIrimce with a prafmmr at axt a c d e ~ cl"isis e point was o h tbe "last straw-incident in the p l d h g to w i t c b g . Non-switchers also desefiw haw close they had come to witchi;ng faflowing a dimraging encounter with their faculty &visor: I leg his office crying.. .l want& him to b k e the time ta explain it. And he just got irate, saying, 'Well, haw many hours did you put into thiswau'dt better rmonsider what you%e doing in college. ' H e really put me down. I lefk thinking, 'Well, I'm not going to listen to that. I know the reason I'm not doing well in his class kn 'l that I'm mnot smad enough. "(FernaXe white science non-swibher) X didn" ddo very wefl the semester befare, and I went to him for advice, and he told me that I should switch my carwr Geld bwause I" never make it,. .I vvas a. sophornore, and that broke my h=&, ..X didn" t o w what to do, but my mother said, 'Don% let anybody tell you what is gaing t s happen in your life. You're the only one who can dw?.ide."Female black seience non-switcher)
Many of these extraets illustrate a fundamenbl clash of perspetives about the appmpriatu bounhries of the faculty advisory role. Students do nut perceive the need to distinguish behnreen advising, counseling, and tutoring functions, while faGulty tend to resist aXI but the most fo af these functions-course advising. ves far not seeking help from With hindsight, some witchers fa faculty, advisors, or tuton, and wondered if they might have survived in the mjor bad they done so: I never went to tutors a r anphing, and maybe I should have. Now I would rwommend it to anybody if you g& behind in a math class-go get a tutor. I just tried to tough it out m d study harder. (Male; white engineering switcher)
I w s set in what I w a n t 4 to do, and wasn? tooking for help until I s b d d not doing it, Then I eouldn" find anybody, 'cause f thought I was too far gone. (Female native American seimce switcher) The wak-in advisor was very helphl, but this was when I was switching out. She said she understood it was tough, and that I was not alone in feefing like I did, and told me the tfibgs I could go into, You know, if I had rachetd out before, I might not have got into a slate where I felt I had to switch. (Male white engineeting swikher)
D w s and faculty also ask why sbdents do not better use of the supprt s y s b m available to them, and we found a number of students are htimidated by the unapproachable demeanor faculty customarily project toward under-classmen; some fear humiliation if they ask "dumb quations"; students who work m y not be able to attend sckduiert office hours; and most freshmen quielrly gick up the that faculty consider it inappropriate far swats to spprowh them-= oppasd to T.A,s or tutors--for help with a d e ~ problem: c That may be part of the =son why p p l e don%go to office hours. You really have to go with a smific question, and if you're hwing trouble seeing somelhing, and are canhsecf, why ga in and embarrass yaurself? (Male white seienm non-switcher)
Same seniors remain wary of c o n k t with their faculty, They prefer not to approach faculty about any amde&c mtter, rather than trying to guess what professors m y , or m y not, consider an appropriate ntatter far consultation. From a lFoeus group of mIe white exlginmring non-switchers: I don%twanna waste his t h e : having him show me som&hing I eailld probably da with a T A , He might get a bad imprmsion of me, and it might g& r e f l e e a in my grade samehow, I%v always wanted to stay clear-paffieipate in ellass, but not get too involvd afiemards. Interviewer: m a t w u l d be a legitimate thing ta go and &Uc to a faculty advisor about?
Like, if there was a gradhg discrqancy which was really obvious, or if I had to leave town and eoutdn%be around to turn in the homework, ISdcheek to see if he want& it ~rty-things I&@ that are okay. X would agrw with that. X hardly s e e my advisor unless I need a f&tw of recommendation, or need to talk to him about some rquimmmt.
Shildenta who absorb the faculty ethie f a v o ~ n gmlitary rather thm ealfabrative endwvor are reluc-t to ask for help of any kind, As airady indicatd, some switcher8 belatdly find this to be an error. Xn order to get the b a t out of campus syport systems-whether as axlfvisiny, caun~lirtg,or tutoring-sniorsdvocatd: learning to bc: mserlive and persisknt; &ing risks in order kz e eoarkt with faculty; using multiple g ;all informtion about graduation owledge from more experienced students; ing full use of T,A.s, tutoring sewices, and progmrns for particular student groups; kwping on top of mume mterials; and reksing to he brushed off with unsatisfactor)r answers. In short, t h q advocated an active, consumer approach to the undergraduate Iife:
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X have to
care of myself on &is ampus. I'm the: only one l o o b g out for me. This is not high sehool, This is rc businas. I'm a cummer, and if X don% like the service, f h w e to say eom&ing, f ean't just sit there and k e q paying. (Pernab bhck science gwiteber)
I%v Ileamd a lot &out how to deal with a probgem, Do it yourself if you can, and if you can?, make somebody help you. Strtrt with a couple of questions, then you go b a ~ kand do it again-and keep on asking. (Female whits=science non-wit;cher) s lot of encoumgment to see a T.A., but I think the professor is paid us. X m a n , I've paid them so mrreh each year to do that, so they need to t w ~ h to take t h e for each kdividual as part of their job. if they rejwt the contact, go ask someone eke, but always state with the professor, (Female white science non-switcher)
I'm not afmid to go and ask a professor for what X need. I man, I'm paying good money, so why not"? Xthink more students would find that, if they took the initiative to fmd a professor they could work with, hey would do b m r . But a, Iot don". (Male while enginwfing nan-switcher)
Sbdents prefand dep&menbl adviskg whereby all shdents w m r q u i r d to mwt witlb fmutty on a, replar bmis, 'This avoids the stigm or m i e t y of decidhg whether or not to approach faeulty. Far a c a d e ~ cdiscurnion md eonsolihtion of class m & ~ a I th, wuld b mwtings b W w n faculty m d smlX groups of swdents. They liked simtions-whether fo where faculty md sbdents of different y a r s codd mwt wEch e & m ~ dtheir apprsiatiorx of syllabus m t e ~ or d the digiplirxe overall. Same elements of thew ammgements were in place on paeieular c a q w s , md were well-suppded by our inbwieww, Sdenbs also w m a m advisor with whom they shard acadernie or earer in oppomnity to ehmge advisors to get a h t t e r m t c h of interests t. m e y n d e d reliable t take, md about the advedising resarch or or c l a m . They apprmiatd p o p m n i t i e s m d relevmt m
and conhet with field p f m s i m s l s . Above all, they a p p r w i a d faculty, profe~ionaladvisors a d depaHmentaI nssismts wbo show& m scrtive longtern inbrwt in their laming, their problem It is sometimw p r o p o d that mme of of mentofing, and, h d d , mniors who had it gratly. Howevet students have hidy predictable, cyclicd needs wKeh lie byond Eh of mentoring relationships, Mmy af their problems with advising a enk d e by their department, college, or institution arise use these provisions Iack the coherenm of 'a system'. SItmctured, replar colthct over time with dvisors whom role bounhfiers ate c l a r to the students,
who will listen, enwumge, and give dimtion to other sysbm resourms, is what ise hmhermt batteq of s w i m s work for swdwts.
h this wtion, we discuss the six ' i c e b r g V & m which referenw the g experiences of S.M.E. shldents, and the comparisons th m s t co their experiences in ather mjocs, These include the factozg cclntributing to s w i k h g deeisians, namely:
*
*
lwk or loss of h k r m t in the disciplines wEch comp~rseS,h?t.E. ons far sktching, md fint (43.2 5410) among ww mention& as a wnmm by 59.6 percent of all switcbers, and by 35.5 percent of non-swithers a non-S,M.E, m j o r is m n ZBoffedng a better ducation, or more interest, W ~ r dG & ~ swond (40.4%) among r w o n s for switckng, w;ns mation& srs a concern. by 58.5 percent of ail switchers, md by 31.6 prcent of non-switchers ing by S.M. E, fmalty which r d & third (36,196) among switehhg, was mention& an; a conwm by 90.2 percent af all swi&hers, md by "7.7 prcent of non-switchers
ody-eitd factors me also d i ~ u s s d :
* *
*
lack of peer shdy support, which r d d 15th (11.596) among r w o m far wi-tchizlg, ww mention& m a concern by 16.9 percent of alI swikhem, md by 7.2 pr-t of non-switchers preference for tbe mching approach exprieaced in non-S.M.E. , which ranked 17th ( 8 - 7 s ) a m n g reasons for witching, was mentimd as a concern by 24.0 p r c m t of all switchers, md by 15. 1 percent of non-switchers p o r t w h k g , labratory, or rwitation supprl by tmcGng r u s s i s ~ t s (never mentiand as a far switching) w a mention4 as a csmcem by 19.7 prcent of all swikhem, and by 16,7 p r w n t s f nonwitcfiers ication problem with Ebreign faculty of teaehing assistants r d & 20th (3.3%) as a r w a n far witching, was mentimed as a concern by 29.5 perc~ntof swibhers, md by 20.4 percent of nonmitehers
Eagirxmhg swikhers and non-swit-chem mentioned laming issues more a f e a than did lhose in science or mthemtics (cE., Chapter 1). Gender differences in them item are mare difficult to su
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disuss in Chapter S, men and women varied in what tbey consider4 'good' m c h k g , and in what they errpecw from . However, men were m r e f&eXy than women ta e x p e ~ m c edifficulty r S.M,E, m j o r bwause of e use of peer sbdy groups,
Pr~bbernswith &m& P e & g ~ g ing in S.M.E. classs were by far the most ca and non-switchem. P m r twehing w a menti almost every witcher (90.2 %), md by fgr mare non-swi other issue. h a n g non-wikhers, wneems a b u t facuf or swond, md were among the tap five conwms of witchers an at1 mven campurns except in the WOsmall private colleges which do not offer mginwring mjors (CL, Table 1.5, Chapter 1). Concerns relating to curricula, the stmcbre rurd pacing of courses, course asmssment system axld sludent work loads, were univemIly rated as far less serious than concerns about the quality of S ,M. E. fxulty p&gogy. Sbdents were v e v c l a r about what W& wrong with the texhing they had experiencd and h d m n y suggestions about how to ilnprove it, They strongly believed that the source of these; problem W= that S.M.E. taculty do not like to twch, do nag value tmching as a professional activity, and lack, therefore, any incentive to 1-m to tach effwtively:
"
About the end of the semester he said, guess by now you've all r a l i z d that the undv&sity is not for teaching studenls.We put it plain, right out in the open.. .In effeet, he vvas teling us, Yf you want to s u c c d here youke going to have to do it by yaucseEf,' ((Male white science non-switcher) It seemed like it was a waste of their time to trtk to undergrgduates. They could have just pfinted the lectures and hand& them ta us. (Male black enginee~ngswitcher)
in the biology dvadment, the professors t r a t d coming t-o class as a big chore. I've actually had tachess say, 'WeEI, I don't warina be here, and you don't tanna be here. "Female white science non-switcher) They just can't udderstand your questions, They don't undersand why you don't t d e r s h n d , and they can? explain what they are telling you any other way. And they just look at you with this blank sbre going, 'ldoon" udeerstand what your problem is.' Arid the depa&ment knows very well that theyye not good professors, but they keep them on beeause theykre good resetarchers, (Female white science non-switcher)
pation with research as the overt Students consmtly referencd faculty p reasan for their failure to pay sc=r_iousattention to tmching undergraduates, and fox specific inadquacies in their attitude or pdagogical mhnique: The full-professors are here for the seseitrch. They have the a#itude that students are barnacles, Undergraduate students just kind of prevent professors
fmm doing the rwearch they rally want to do. (Female white mathematics switcher) Themal dynamics is the one coume where at1 the professors say, WO, no, not me.Theyke trying to not teaeh the course bmause it's not related to their resmrch. We got stuck with one professor-you wuld &I1 hh motivation towards the chss, because he always came in uqrepard. But he had to give us something-so it was basically the same ~naitekl.we read in the text. (Male white scitsnee non-switcher)
a m t t e r of faculty" interat in thieir disciplhe, but Am m rafism a b u t the m r c e of callvial and institutional prestige, and the criteria for tenure, and promotion: The basis for tenure is not whether or not youke a good teacher, it's how much money yau bFing in. It's sell-known that they can't tach, but they bring in research mont.;y, They usually teaeh the toughest classes too. Or maybe they 're the toughest because they Ye twching them. (Female white engineering non-switcher) We met very few sbdents who had been given the chance to work with S,M.E. faculty in a reswrch capwity or to obseme them in a hands-on relationship with their discipline. However, st-udents (largely non-switchers) who report& such e r r p ~ e n e mpointed to the pl t md open way in which fgulty t r a t d uadergradwtes in a resarcb relationship, cornpar& with their qparent iadifierence in a tmcbing context:
I'm working for a professor who doesn" tke t;a teach. We Ekes reswreh, and is grmt to work for, He%always happy out there-always smiles and treats me with a lot of respect, and encaumges me, and so forth. But in class he" a different animal, wale white science non-switcher) Faculty dislike of p h g o g i e a l contact with students explaitled by their grwter h b r e s t ia rewrcfi, or by the bias of department;al rewards system, As same students p i n t & out, these a s p t s of their work were shared with a c a d e ~ c in s all other disciplines. They offer& many examples of faculty in non-S,M,E, depadments who t r ~ t e dteaching as m integral part aF their professional role md t m k the trouble to do it well: The classes in my new major swm to be about the same size, but there" so mueh more interaction b&wmn the professors and the students. In the math ebsses it seemed like the professor would just go up to the chakboarcf and start doing problems. And when the beff rang, he'd set down the ekak, and he'd never turn around or say anything b the class. (Fenale white engince-ring switcher) f found myself drawn towards the social sciences. I was having a great time studying with the tcaeher, taking with the teacher, &king with the T,A,s,
mat% what s a l & it. I don" Ewe any rel;ra a-t all. (Male Asian-American e n g k w h g switcher) In chemktv class- their hag@k mom, 'I'm the teacher and youke the in the gocial sciences, it% s o m like, 'I hope we both get students,%d somdhing out of the clam.' I mean, you bo& feel Iike you gain sorn&hing. So I% defmitely v e v happy that I got into thk major. (Female Hispanic science s+tcher) There" a llot rliffesnt style. The e n g h m h g profaisor is up at the blackboard, whilC: the a& mcher iis w a h g around and t a k g . w a l e white enginwhng switcher) f thhk that in sociology and humanities, the quality of the mchers was better. They were more interest4 h mchirng you. They seemed more interest& in if you lamed sorndkg, rather than just the grade you gat. The biabgy h e h e r s were just k t e r e s a in Eelkg you what they had learned, and you'd bemr learn it too. (Male white science switcher)
My fitemture professor's fanastic. They should ask her to b e h the science professors how to teach, For the first time, X fiad a professor who asks your idas-not just what you've =d. And she r e s p b your idms and your thought pmwsses, (Male white science swit-cher)
t elements in what sbdents saw as b c b g h e r e o p m e s s , r w p t fox suents, eneauragement of discussion, and the sense of d i s o v e ~ n gt ~ n g tagether, s Sadents' eompariwn of the tackgig styIw they eacou&rd in S.M.E. cIm%s with those e x p ~ e n d in other classes are p e r n a t d with d i e h o t o ~ m coldness : versus wamth, elitism verms demmracy, aloofness vemus opmess, rejwtion versus supp~ft;: "goad
The humanitim chssw are much more prsonable. You fwI that the Wchers are on your side as o p p s d to trying to t r i ~ kyou on tests. I know my entke d ~ a r l m m t and , they know me by name. (Female white seiena switcher)
I've &ken human development courms and it%sso different, becauge g's not so cold, M e r w s , in the science classes it% just like a w U bewmn the professor and the studenb. (Female Asian-Ame&can seimcr: switcher) The amount of respect is based on grades and not. on the prson. M e r m s , in ather d q a ~ m e n t s ,X never felt that the professor didn" tespwt my W&. (Female black engineekg suriQher) In envkonmenkt design, there" an interest from the faculty-that students are in some way valuable to them. M e m s , in the s~itlmw,the studentnr are seen as a distract;ion, I. &ink it's mare personal in the other depadrnents, The professor smms to be a human being and not some kind of machine, and they Ye not as scary to go and talk to, (Female white engineehg switcher)
Students described experiences which suggested to them that S.M.E. faculty disliked or avoided uadergradua@, were indifferent to their academic problems, g and lack& my mtiva(im to teach well: dwisd Some who just don%t e to m c h , &ey'U hold affice hours Eke at 8:W a m . in. the morning buije they don't want yau to come h. (Male white scimce non-s~tehea)
I Gthdmw from his class. He wasjust hodble.. .He was v e q unapproachable, to care about .what he was doing. (Female I felt at he just didn't S Hispanic scienee s4kher) You just g& this fwihg that the rnakfial was so much more i m p a n t than the people who were s u p p s d to be learning it-a sense that, 'R's mueh more impoftant that 1 get this material out than that you take it in." mmht be m a b g that=enginwhg professors out to sound Iike big wcky bastards, but they didn" E e a very active hterest in wheaer the studenb Ieamerf or not. (Male white m g i n a h g swit~her)
but they wem cyaical facutty did not fw1 a.
almtions were salieitexfl on a replar basis, e or utility. They believed that mast ty far stzxdmtsYarning:
They introduec: it to you; they show you the concepts; then you go hone and
teach yourself. Other instmctors will m c h you, and they go slower and they explain more, Xn m g i n e h g , half the t h e they don't even bU you what it's for. It's, 'Tb is how you do it;,Let's move on to som&hing else now. "(hale white enginwhg s 4 t ~ h e r )
I was kind of mad that: I wasn" t.ught her. I had cover4 all &at stuff ancl beyond in my high school e h e m i s t ~elas~,othewiee I pnsbiilbly wouldn't have psseB. I mmn, you had ta t a e h yoursdf. Going to lwture was carnplely wo@hjess, m a l e white science s~tchc;r) MO% to say that they don't just take the evaluations and throw then in the traah. They probably don't even look at t h m . l just fwX that they're. not sing into consideration what we're saying, (Male black enginm~ngswitcher) Part of the problem with the ma& depa~mentia their urattitude. 1 think they rmf_izetf.teyke bad, but they really don" cam, It% sot their problem that their students are fai1in.g their courses. It's the students' problem. (Female .tvhite science non-s~tcher) S M e a t s aiso interpret4 the dismissive, rejecting attibde of profesmrs towards
t h e who approached them with qumtims as an indication that Faculty p1 all rapnsibility for laming either sqmely on the sbdmtsbshoulders, or saw it as a m t b r for delegation to 1 had enginwhg tachers who s w m d very indifferent; wha dkdn" seem to be concern& with the student that was struggling, There's a couple t h e s I
went tie office hours and X was t r a w like an idiot just because 1 didn't understand som&hhg. (Male black enghee&g switcher) I didn" tmI cornfomble t a b g to him. I didn't tm1 like he want& the studenh to taUr &+I him. It was mom that this was the hching assisknt*~ 4 mI unapproachable, (Female white science msponsib8ty. He just switcher-) I've had pmfesmrs who have said to me, 'If you don't uunderstrmd it, talk to your T.A. If they don%undernand it, talk; to your fhends. If worse comes to worst, come see me,' They just didn't wad to be bother& with it, (Male white e n g k e e h g switeher)
Not only was Xmk of shtdmt- her dialogue thought to refleet ZIaeuXty indifference to s b d m k , it also m m t that faculty rmived s o f d b w k a b u t what sludenQ were, and were not, teaming. Shndents had no way b infiuence the pace or depth of the syllabus: There's no sort of interaction back and forth, Just the professor sitting up there presenting matefiat to you. It9s sort of a one-way kind of Iwture. In high school it was always, like, back and forth. (Female white enginmring switcher)
The dismciag af S,M,E. fmulity from undergduates was sometimes edanced by arcasm, degm&tian, or ridicule: There are professors who will call on you and fidicufe you if you don't know the answer. Youke always on your guard and yauke K i d of jumpy, and youke not really Imrning kause youke unsure wh&her youke going to be call4 on, That" a very poor way to twch in my opinion. (Female white engineering switcher)
X&&, part of the perceived kcofdaess' of S.N.E, cIasse*c Iay in the cration of an a t m o ~ h e r eirz which *den& were afraid of "saying something wrong": In a physies mitsltion, peopk would rrtther shut up than say something that could be wrong, That's why there was so little interaction, and strong fmXing of intimidation. In my Chinese class, we had an a t e s e atmosphere, and misbkes were never scorn&. There was a grater ac~ephnceof not being pedwt at first. There was a bt of pressure in enginwhng to appar perfeict all the time. (hxnale white enginmfing switcher)
Again, students made invidious comparisons behueen the aloof, forbidding y S.M.E. faeulty, md the opemess they expe~encedin other classes. Not only did sadeots feel more contfo&ble in b k i n p about acadenuc difficulties to non-S,M.E. profwmrs, they also found the atmosphere In their classes intelleebally stimulating: f took a history eourse and that professor has wound up becoming a mentor towards me, H e always wants to know what courses X" mkining, We said to
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come t-a him iff ever need help, I've had seveml mentors in the history field that really foster& my interegt in it. (&male Asian-AmeAcan science switcher) The fist chem clmiss was totsllly dead, It wasn't like that when I went to psychology, That was like an alive subjeet-there was emotion put into the lecture. And that wakes yau up, F e m l e wbik e n g i n w ~ gswitcher)
I l k d selerrm, I really did. But in the libem1 arts, you would b h g more of yourself into the class, X rwHy felt like X got to know the teitchers, They weren't just flinging numbers at me. And I rally, real& edoyed that. My parents didn't go to colIege and it was the Pmt time X had rally had an inteHmtuaf discussion about issuw wvvi thsornmne. And it opened this entirely new world to me that 1just fell in love with. (Female white science switcher)
Again, we were m d e aware of the "push-md-pullhahire of dwisions to leave: poor mcfiiag and the dullnws of S,M.E. cfasses made it hard (even for shdenb with a strong liking for science and matbernatics) not ta fwX d r a w towards disciplinw where twhers offer& the excitement af intellwtuaf exploration and debate. Stjudents also mde very s p i f i c criticism of the pAgogicaE t s h i q u e s af their S,M,E. professors, The most co of these were that lessons lack& prepamtion, iogieal quencing or eatxer~nce,and that little attempt was m d e to cheek that shxdents were fallowing the arguments ar ideas. Strudenls interpreted poor prepamtion as refleeting fwulty disinterest in how wet1 their shdents were Iwming: I think poor organbtion is the major problem with their tmching-just coming ta class and trying to tmch off-the-cuff without having put any preparation into what will be presentd. (Female white science switcher) There were some rnaa classes where we would be writing frantically to keep up with the professor. He'd just sort of s p w equations across the board as fie w s taIking, He wrote rmlly fast, and equations were being put up and wiped off, and w e b like, 'Wat's going on hem? Are we just gonna wfite and figure it out a&emards?"(hiEale white enginmring switcher)
Pmr pfeparsltion was also cited as evidenm of a law level of pedagogical eompekace, hawledge, or professionalism among S.M.E. faculty: You run across t a e t . 1 who ~ ~ don't prepare for lectures. They just look at the swtition that theyke cavehng in the book, or they have some sefibble8 nahs and just start taking about it as if t h q were &king to grad students or eollagues, (Mate Hispanic e n g i n w ~ n gnon-switcher) He somethe8 gets lost, and then he'll have to erase everything and start over, Qr he'll be at the end and realize he made an e m r , and have to go back to the beginning of the prolsbm. And we have to wait for him to figure out what he did wrong. By that time, I'm lost, (Female black e n g i n w h g non-switcher)
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Sbdmts wem b t m M by pro
qumtialty or mherently: I%e had pmfasom that h o w their subjd backards and fomards and, in fm, one of the instmcbrs wan some: eng&cx:ring p physics. G m penon, G m mhd. But he oouldn't tmmunicah effdiveiy . (Male whik science s*&her)
If you're not coneeptuabg what's going on, it" hard. The professor undershnds eveqhing so well that they have zt hard time expressing some of the basic conwts, male white enginmhg sGteher) They had so much h o w l d g e and they got almost none of it across. Or whakver tfiey got across was in such pieces, so dbtoH&, &at- there was no hkgration, So that was rmuy fmstmthg, to go to s class with really inkagent ~ p whobeould not oommuniwte, (Femalewhib science switeher)
Twhem &h& e ~ s" p r " did not appear to m d e r s b d the relationship ktvvwa hamout af mtefial wkch am b p g 4 h a shgte;clas, a d the Xevd af compmhension and mbntian wfieh, they wuld e x m t from studan&: fire cover& amro y SOO pages in the regular text book. That was too much infornation bc=ingshovd into too small a s p w at one time, (Male white scienw switcher)
Nor did they piteh &air class m t e ~ a l or s test qumtians at a level wEeh ww appropriate for sWdm& at a paeieuXar stage of wnmpWX developmat, or b r d d a m syllabus mtkr hto q u e n m s w E ~ hpromate w n 9 - 1 g r q : You fmi like you ahost have to h o w stuff when you go in baause ~ e are y ,but am somewhere up here not trying to expfah or b d d o m & a e co thd you have to just ctateh up to. (Female; black engheering swikher) Youkre stntgggng to g& out of the muck at the bonom of the pond and he*s saiEing away. (Male white science non-sGtchw) Somethes I fmd that exams are word& in a way that you're mislecf, I don't t h it% ~ hinntional. I &ink it may have to cio 4 t h them being on a levd so fir rmoveb from the students, and forgming weke just learning this, (Female Asian-heh~anscience gwitcher) He could not understand how students wouldn" unddersland something. Evemhing he did was so msy and blaknt to him, he Bidn" know how to explain it mom imply. (Male white scienee sktcher) We went ta the depa&ment h a d and v o i d our complaints. The twcher was such a nice guy, but nobody had learned mfling, f think he was used to
mchhg upmr-division efasses. He was going aver our heads all the t h e . Female whik enginwhg nan-swikher)
Students also l w k d for, and rnostly did not find, illustmtion, application and dis~ussimof the inyT2ieations of mb~af bing tatughl: m e y b reuseci to just gohg thmugh the equ&ions on the board and not raUy
illustrgting it-just so*
c m n h g &rough it, male enghwfing non-switeher)
S m m d &e they just said, 'DD~ it, 'and you did, And they don't tell you why ; they &an%txphin it very well, f h d o f felt s o q for evevan-it was just gohg over ~ e bads, k (Female wK& enginwhg awkher)
They just spit it out at you, and aey don't say, 'This is like.. . ' a r , 'VOU ean innaghe this behg, ..,' E v e n when you" in a large roam you can tell d e n sameane's tr4Shg at you or s p k i n g to you. (Female white mathematics switcher) X did a lot better in the hands-on classes bmuse there I could actuatly see an outcome from the knowgdge that I was acqu&g, Had it had close e x p ~ e n c e with e n g h m h g , maybe I would have: swn some applicability, but I didn't see it at alle (Male white e n g h m h g switcher)
Students also fomd it hard to rekh their irxterwt in the subject where their profesms fail4 ta prwat the mkAa1 ia a stimutatbg Physics X found &solutely weless-mostly bwause the instmctor had a monotone. And I tend to tune out somahhing that has a regular, constant pitch-for exampb, the fan. (Male while s@ienceswitcher) You'll sit t-hrough the lecture, it'll be so b o k g , they'U be so monotane, (He m1ly got to yau in about two swonds. Imagine sitting through an hour and 15 m b u t ~of it. You kind of bse tmek, think about different &bgs and learn it from the book, (Male white enghwring non-swikher)
Mious clasms were &am in W E G profmwrs ~ over-fmud an getting sbdmts to naemofim mteial: I didn" t e chernistq because so much of it was rate memo sat and Listened to the professor drone on and an, It just rally wwrs on you after s whge.,,I think it would help to change the way they teach it, (Male white scienee non-switcher) Chemistry was the worst class I've ever a e n in my life. It was very dry-~ust lwming the numbers and the fomulas and memofizing evevthing. It just wasn? connmted to anything. fn high school chemistry, you l a m & about the demerits, and then did an e x p h m t so you could see haw it worked. (Female white enginm~ngswitcher)
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Howwer, by far the most effmtive tahnique for dissipatkg shxdent. interest was the widely-report4 practice of reading or copying mte~aiIsstraight from text books. Repofis of this teaching methad same from eveq S.M.E. discipline and were r e p M on e v e v campus. The following examples wme from forxr different campwes: If you bok in the book you can say, 'Oh, X b o w what he's going to do today,hnd by gotly, that" what goes on the board. He" just say what he w ~ b s AU . he% doing is copying the book. It's prmy sick, If someone asks a question, he goes through this robotic quoting o f the book again. (Male white e n g i n w h g non-swi&her) I had one professor who would literally pick up the book and read it to the class, I mean, he: would just read. W e had CiO percent of the fas ss drop the course, I c-ountd one day, and out of maybe 180 students, 17 showed up to the feeture. I was happy with the course content, and the facilities were wonderful, but the tm~hiningw a s just a vmf disappointment to me. (Male white enginwring swit~her) Nothing rmlly bothers me mare tkan to have the professor just read what's in the t;extbook. I mean, you could have saved the $30, ActuaUy, one semester I did that. I just relied on the notes, and did just as we11 as I" been doing with buying the books. (Male white science switcher) it, gat a B 3- in both m d h and chemistry, but I fek it w s a waste of time to go to the class itself, W e n wiz went into class, they would r a d out of the book. And I'd think, V can do that. You%rc:the tacher: I want you to explain it some way other than what I k e atready read.' It was just a waste of my time. It wasn" taching, It was just rading. (Female white enginwring switcher)
h o t h e r version af this method was sometimes refemecf to m "silent tmching': the professor writes on the board with his or her back to the class, and addresses the studenb infrquently and dnimally. Again, students read in this bfjhavior the mmsage &at these profasors take no respmsihility for their sfudents' Ieamhg: They just conthually write. And theykrz standing in fmnt of what they wrik, but they don't care. They31 look over their shoulder now and then, and say, 'Okay, you all are still there,' and just keep going. And the number of people that don't go to classes i s amazing. (&male white mathematics switcher) You walk in, you sit down, and you get your pencil going. It's just write, write, wfib, And the guy" go* aaerss the board, taking as fast 8s he can. You have no idea what he's saying; you have no idea what the conmpts are. All youke tfying to do is write as fast as this professor, If he would just take the notes he's bwn t a ~ h i n gfrom for the last 20 years, mimwgraph 'cm, and hand kern to you, we could look at them, m&e &Ie notes on his notes, ask intelligent questions, and try to get hold of the eoneepts, mther than scribbling down the fomufas. (Mate white enginwring non-switcher)
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s,M,E, faculty did I too well I s tter, This was rent disinterest in the y-offered, and strongly-strwd r w o n for tht? dissipation of interest ia. the S.M.E, discipline smdents origindty chow: Uarfomnatdy,
The professors I've had for physics and enginsfing bored me, although E don't ever thi& the material was boring. The professor has a lot to do with how students learn, and how excited they are about the material. I believe some of thesre profegsors didn't care if you sky& or not, it remember this one guy, he never even made eye mntaet with the elms. It was just Lie he was staring off into space. That sort of &kg is a big factor h pwple losing interest and switchhg. (Male white science swikher)
on faeufty 'S l i ~ t e xundersmding j of how b o t h e r set of criticisms foc shbenk learn. The absnce of apparent; structure in the se1ection of efass mterials, or in the order and fogic of their presentation; and the lack of fit bemwn class mterials, home work md the content of tests, suggestd to shdertts, that faeufty h e w nothing about l a m i n g olr?jectives, did not h o w haw to org&zt: their twchitag around them, or were deliberaely pewerse: I h& a physics professor who aught stuff that was toally unreiatd to what we were being test& on and tohlly unrelataC[ to what we were reading-to anything that applied to anphing, in fact. (Male whi& enginwring non-switeher) They tell you to rwd the book, and it smmed like it was taking about somdhing eampletely different than the professor. They didn't fit at all. The only thing that fit were the problems in the book, but you weren't l&eiy to see them on the board, (Male black engi-nec~fing switcher)
A lot of professors are rally bad tmehers. There doesn" swm like there" say paaem, Th.eyPUgive you a syllabus, but they kind of go off on tangents and there" rmUy no lesson plan. (Male Hispanic science: non-switcher)
$&dents did not accept the argument that same S.M.E. subjwt matter is Uerently tdious, and that l a m i n g it.is Just part of the hard gfind of being in an. S.M.E. major: I'm melaking quantum physics right now. With my first professor it was all badly dull, with this professor some of it is very internsting, Sa I don't ttkink it's the msferlial that has ehangd, I think it% the +ay it's being bught. There's no way they are going to be interesting if they don%tmv about what they're teaching. (Female whik science non-swikher)
Were two profwsors bught the same mterial, but anXy one of them stmeturerf their prwntation and msessments so as to build comprehensian, shrdents rep&& a m r k d difference in how we11 they did in the two cfasses, md in how much they feet they had lamed:
I56
The Leamiltg Dpevience I fail4 Calculus 11 and had to r u e it. But the class was full, so I asked if I wuJd fake the arts and scimce; pmetieal calc ins-d. And X was m a y surpked: it wm the same xnakfial, but them was an extreme difference; in the pace we took; a tobfally diffemt calibre of professor atso. He s m m d eon~emiedabout us and kught us well, even though there were so many of us, I did very well the s m n d time: I gat a B, although I got a D the first time, (Male white enghwdg svvit~her) The pmfwsor is b y f i r and a w q , I th*, the main d e m i n i n g factor in how well you do in a class, and how mueh you learn, I could give several examples of courses I've e e n wlia one pmfesor, which my roam-mab had a e n with anoaer. And you" thi& they were tmching two different subjwts. lt% defunitely the meher thing. (Male white engineering non-switcher) A fhend of mine who's U i n g the class that X stmggled through-and X eouldn" tell you one thing I I w m d out of it-he's loving it. He's doing hands-on, prztcticsil e x p e h e n b , And I sat there laming more theories than I'd ever h o w what go ddo *th,"(IMaXe white engineefing non-switcher)
Failure ta build syllabus stmeture around l a m i n g objectives was also evident in the presntatiotl of m t e k a l s at a pace wEch ww too fast far comprehension or mnital digesti-ion; mey'U rush thou* the material. And I thM that" s h y somdimes my grades suffer bwause I don't get to diest what the professor puB on the board. You're moving so fast a k a d y . And three days later you're on a whole n@;w subljd. (Male white mghwring non-switeher) Finally, some faculty appard ta d r e s s their o m rather t h m the sbdenlf;' intellw-l n d s : lt was kind of segfseming for him. He just rikd to prove that he could go through this one theory and figure it out on the board. I lam& more out of the book than in the lecture, (Fernale white science switcher) My physics tmcher w u l d just rrtmble on about whatever sparked his hterest. Then he'd give an exam that had nothing to do with what he &Eked about in Iwture. XVotlzing at aU! male white: enghwaing non-sktcher)
As we discus& arlier, eume-grading tends to shift the foeus of teaching avvay from what shdmts get out of cfassw ixl&llectudly toward what they a f grades, As smdents m painhlly aware, a gap then opns up betureen grades they receive and the level of knowledge and skills which the gmdes are s u p p a s 4 to reflect: His ~ y ~ t ewas m the most screw I%e seen yet. W e didn't like averages on exams to be above 50 percent, He e u m d them 20 to 30 pints at the a d of the semester, but throu&out the entire semester you "re getting like 40 gercent on the exams. Even if you know the average is that law, it% still raUy
demont@g. h d I didn" tarn anything, "cause I w s onEy abb ta do less tftm half the pmbXems on the exams. wale whik e n g h w h g switcher) Xf you see yourself g&hg a '25, and you'm g a h g a C, that" sat like gaing a 75 and g&hg a C. Et's not at aU, mey value the gmde on what yyau%re g&hg. They don" value the laming. m a l e whib agbm&g non-sebher]
I got a: C, but I didn't Earn m@bg. You should get an F if you don't learn anfling. Feml: whik en&mhg non-&&her)
In the scima clwsw yau may end up with an A or B but only get S0 on a test. use Ihey had to curve it up. m t akays boEbed me you" reonly dohe; SO p s e n t of the work ar gain@SO prmnt of the pin& youke not miXy laming evewhhg. Even the highest gmde may have bmn a 6Q and that mans that the top prsan didn" even undemhnd all the work. Yau can beat the average, but you still don't undersand all the rnakhl. (Male white: science switcher)
the comwtion, trwthg laming athough mast @@dentsdid. not f m w of ~ b is angaim w ~ c mm h dirwtly muater objectiva as the to swdent selwtioa by the eriteia M e r m t in the w d - u t system, If sbdents enjoy md mdemmd the mtefiais prmnted h elms, are k b f l e c ~ l l y ation mwers, then it m y stirnulaw, learn well, and show this in the k o m afficult to d i m r d moagfx sbdenb depadmental rmurces by the of j u ~ o ryear, This is rzat to suggwt that faculty dddibrately bdXy in order to w d q u t quota, 'This is, neve~beless,the inevitable conquencl= of 1 and institutionalid pAgagim1 hcompebnee. The p r m i v d n d to u~ffi n t r d u c t - ~ qc I m w -For wlection p u v m encourages for faculty to value good psofmsianaX pdorit;y, or U P thmv* rtant student group wham intellwhrat needs am not met by the cument f w w on w d e u t objectives arc: thaw who continue in their S.M.E. mjors to grdwtian, arrrdlor into gmdwte &ml. As seniors teach@m&odsthey = M e n d in introductctry classes o h n rwallsd in a sh&y tkretieal founhtion for higher 1eve1 work. n e y descriM unce*ioty about piciculat bodies of material, md described gaps in undersadin8 which they had not h a able to elom. They wre mgry that their eduation had sufferd in the p r w w of d i w r d h g ather studenh. Another large group whose needs are not met by the w d q u t approach to irrtrductary dassm are nonwience rnajors who seek a gromding in callege-level mien- and -themtics as part of their ayem11 college education, As we shdl discuss in more detiiil in the following chapter, incrwes in the costs of higher dueation m d in the t i m needed to complete an S.M.E. dl=grm in a period d e n a growing numbr of swdents art: assuming the primav
finmcial responsibility for their edumtion, dispose S,M,E, -jars to view the p&gogical h d e q u c i e s of their clasms in of p r value for the money: The t;hirlg that just drove me nuts was &at I was paying a11 this money. I'd die in a elassro.oam.with about 300 o&er students and X was IhkEng, 'WeU, I'm paying about $1,mtuition and at this rate these guys must be earning $70,000a year. "t just didn" take smse. (Male whik scienw nan-s1Njt~fier]
X wuld say that 50 percent of the oaurse wark you do is poorly detiverd, and is a struggle, Not only do you pay to take the course but you wind up W i n g the course at home, You might as well not even show up for efass. Vouke not gmhg any help. And you ke paying money to learn the coume yourself out o f a book, (Female white science switeher)
The shxdent as disgmntled consumer is, in effwt, arguing that it is inappropriate to take the fms of the y in return for a %mice whose qwEity is d e t e h n d by a primry focus on selection of the few.
Experience$ with Te~ch;ingAssis&nt;r; ing suppod roles (largely in Gmdwte; $&den& employed in S.M.E. d tutorial cantex&), are in a peculiarly difficult sihation. S.M.E. facuXly are p r role madeXs as tachers, either ood t a c h g skills, ar for the development of psitive attihdes bward the value of learning them, On the other hmd, S,M .E. faculty oRen delegate a high deigrw of remnsibility ta their tacking s s i s m t s for mching the fiundamentals of their disciplines, a d for rwpnding to undergmdmta~uustionsmd problem. Because undergmduabs fmd it so difficult to lwm from 3,M.E. faculty, they also de;pend more on T,A.s than studenb in non-S.M.E. mjors in order to acqluire b a i c eonwpts and skills, Wen undergradwtes comptah to d and chairs a b u t the quality of S. M.E. teaching, or give negative: class evduations, the h e u s of blamt: for undergraduate dissatisfaction is mmetirnes shift4 onto graduate taching assistants. It is clear, however, from our &t;a that most S.M.E. undergradwtes do not p l m p r i m v rwpnsibility for their l a m h g difficulties on taching assistants, b cited p r tal.aing by T.A.s as having contributed Not one of our info to their &ision to leave (cc, Table 1.6, Chapter I). h d d , undergracluates reprled that gmduate tmching assisants had a higher level oF interest in t e ~ ~ c hand g a greater willingness to mezt the intellectual needs of undergraduates than did faculty. Undergraduates were particularly appreciative of T.A.8 who trwted their questions seriously (and sought to answer them), reinterpreted material they found difficult in terns they could understand, offered them applications of theoretical material, showed them alternative ways to approach problems, shared their own know-how, bolstered students' confidence, and reinforced their enthusiasm far the discipline:
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In my upprdivision mmhanieal e n g h w h g classes they c a v the same T A . s for a lot of the classes so you g& to know them and &ey usually know what theyke & k g about. m e y k e usuttlly more helpkl than the professam. They h o w the pmfessor's not m&ng any sense. n e y " tell you, Were% s better way to explain it,"Femle white enginmhg non-s*teher) A I T,A.s I%e had have been p m y enthusiasticand &ey'm pr&ty good about
s h o ~ shofi-cuts. g (Mab whib enginmhng non-switcher) They will do a &Full review k r you before the tat. n a t % s e g key. (Female white e n g h m d g miteher) They always h e w w h e the ~ tough s p t s on the problem sets were so we could foeus on those. It was just very helpful. (Emale white engineering non-swikher)
I've had 71.A.s that were even b a e r than professors, E felt, just beeausc: of their mthusiasm for teaching. And that made a big difference in studenb wanthg learn the mae~a1.(Female white engineering non-swikher)
Shrdents Imked to T,A.s far a mcher-tmrner relationship which they sought, but rarely found, in faculty: T,A,s are the closest rwourse that a student would hwe to a real tacher. Professors are larger than life. They Ye a little out of rack. Yeah, 1".A.s are definitely the way to go. (Mate white wginmring switcher) 'They an; the ones to go and see if you have a problem. They are aasier to talk to and they don't put you down in the same way as the professors do. (Female white enginw~ngnan-s~teher)
Sbdents e;xpwted l'. A, s to be more open md approxbable thm faculty, mid mortr; rmdy to expfah things in plah ~YZ W e n the T A , support system worked well, sbdents expresd mtisfaction with their classes, was true even when faculty taching was m n as inadqaate: The T.A.s are very imp*nt to the class because if the professor's sup there l w t u ~ n gand , you don't understand a w r d theyke saying, mast students want to go see the T.A.s rather than the instmctor. Bwause if you can't undershnd them in Iwture, you don%want to g& more confused. (Female white scienm non-swibher) The classes are a lot easier b handle ulken you have a goad T.A. to explain things to you when the professors can't, (Female bXaek science non-switcher)
My ophion is th& it's the T.A.s who really e c h the course. The instmctors just administer it. (Male black enginwring switcher) There are classes where almost everyone's clueIess, but no one will ask a question, Then you get with the T.A. in a smaller class situation and that's where the learning rally goes on. Because weke not afraid to ask the T.A.,
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and they will expkh things d o m to every l a t step. w a l e white nrrahematics non-switcher)
There were, however, some complaintsabut T.A. s (i.e. from 15.5 percent of all stvdents hbwi a y of t h m dissatisfaetiomf w agieal sEfls aEld ifldifferenc m d e f d for them by fwulty. mm hdqwies were dditional to the no shortcomings of graduate ache=, namely, insufficient familiarity with the syllabus material to teach it with confidence, or in depth: They swm v e v d&orga&d, and I feel Eke Lheyke confused, I really Eke it when T.A.s prqare somhing to talk about, to try and k e o v c a t e the mate~al,I don't Eke it when the T.A,s are &ere to just tell you how to do problems. l: m a n , that" not what we n d , (Female white enghwring s w i ther) ~ This is a =search school and what happns is Chat keviably you're getthg Ph,D.s that are dohg research in really abstrwt a r a trying to teach freshmen undergmduabs, And tfieykre: just not qui@ to do that. They're totally unprepad to t a c h low level ma& and calculus to enghwm. And the same thing goes for the physics depadment, (Male white e n b m h g non-s~tcher) He's sot had any e x p ~ e n e et a c h h g a class. He doesn" have the organimtianaf sEHs that you need to dkmt a ehss. We obviously h o w s the matedal very welt, but he%hying a hard t h e refating it to the werage student w b daesn" l o w an@hg about it. (Male white; science switeher)
It iis clear that m s t S,M,E, taching =ism& had not rwived a y imtmctim the =me way that they tb on how to tweh effstively, were had bmn bught, axld were, p professiond mntom: The problem is that they don%have any education ehsses bbehhd them. They don% h a w haw to get m g l e to l a m . 'They do not h o w how ta give infornation. They can%get their ideas; aeross, lt's a self-aught class, If you don%get what he does on the board, you go to the book, If you can%tmch yourself from the book, you don't t & e it. (Female white mathematics switcher)
My t a ~ h h gassistant was really smart and tried to help, but, actually, she didn". She was a h h g for evevane to g& an A instmd of eveqone to undemfld. She would give us a lot of the answers, but she wouldn" m a y explain them very well. I t h that ~ was pafily bmause she just didn't know how to explziin thhgs, She; urould just fell us the answers, so you wuld memoke them, but never undersbnd hem. (Female white engineering switcher)
f want sommse who can answer my questions. But, a lot of the T.A.s pretty much have a one-track type of mind. They just know it the way they l a m & it. (Male Hispanic scienw n o n - s ~ t ~ h e r )
Graduate T.A.s also appeared to be replicating the negative attitudes of faculty y: toward t a c b g , md a lamed in~gpacityta CO ~nicateeff~tivef Not very many of them phn to be teachers, This is just a job. (Female white enghwhg switcher)
From a focus group af women science non-switcherss They aren't intermtd in tacking you, They "re doing it bmause they have to. Theyke grad students and this is part of their package. 'They have to twch this course.
Or even if they're inte=std in teetehing bmause they're exeitd about what they Ye dohg, they just can%tanatge; txs communicate it in a way that we can understand.
Whd was also a f a e n g , especially ta switch= who sougbt individual hdp, was that grdwti: students expressed the %me indifferent aftibde towards undergmduate Xmmers that they had found in faculty: I would say they are very similar to faculty. I Lhirxk that people who have m d e it far enough to be T.A.s have the same sort af attitude, X had a T. A. b c h me math, and it was the same old thing as the professors-not exciting at all. We was a h d y h d of on the same path, (Male white science swit~her) T.A.s always say, We" here."ut I don't tthink they would go rally far out of their way to help you get the basics. They wouIdn%t b e willing to spend the time, They just try to confuse you more or they say, VeII, yau should have l a m & that; you should be in a simpler cZass."Femab white enginwring swikher) The T.A. was rmlly hpatient, fife didn" like ting himself. E warrld ask him. a few questions, and he became impatient, (Male Hispanic science setcher) The swtian ladem were just kind of inqt, but the h a d T.A. was really amogant. He s m m d much more inkrest& in his own Iarnhg and advancement than anybody else's. (Male white enginwI.ing swilc;her)
ErarSuate assismts were also seen to rnjmor faculty in their professional prfarities md constraints: f had a T.A. that was in enginmhg and he was so wrap@ up in what h e was
doing &at it was hard for him to teach. (Male white enginmring switcher)
X had one or two fieipfirl T.A.s, But most of them are bking their own course-load, which is very h a v y , and they also have to do this to make money, So they have a buneh of pmssures, [Female whik e n g i n m h g switcher)
As they did with faculty, undergradwtm m d e unfavomble contrasts bewwn the tacbiag they reeeivtd From
[email protected],E, g r d m t e tmckng assista;nts and that e x p e r i e n d in otiher disciplinm: X"ve notied in hkwry or psychology, those T.A.8 swm to be raUy good. They wilt talk to you and help you, They'n: exeitd about what they%@ doing, But around chemistq or physics, tErt=ydon%plan an tmching. They just want to make money so they can get through this. (Fernale white; enginm~ng switeher)
m e absorption by gradmte m c b g assismts of S. M. E. faculty n practices with respwt to twcfizirxg a p p a r d , happily, to be far from complete, Most undergraduates repfled a gaixtum of good and bad experiences with T. A. s, wheras their exprienees ~ 4 t faculty h as tmhers were more consistently distzppointing: We reaUy didn" rare about the students. He was interesM in doing resarch and he had to teach Calc 1221. You how, he put his time in and that was it. Then I had another one who was willing to see pmpte and made s p i a l study groups, and was mueh more supprtive..So it depnds on the individual. (Male white science nan-switcher) We were s u r p r i d ta f i ~ dthat some S.M.E. de,pa&ments did not offer r ~ i h t i o nswtions fn mppad of large lwt-ilre calmsm, Shdents complain4 that rwibtion sectians were s&en too large for the kind of interactive, interrogative learning they sought. It was also clear that some faculty deiegatd responsibility for teaching original mtefial to g r d w t e t a c b g assisbnts rather than k ~ p i n g recibtions as an oppomnity to clarify a d consofidate mtel-ial taught in class:
Qur smtion probably had 48 peaple in it. A lot of times our prof bad T.A.s taching in the section, So it% not even Iie we went over the old stuf"F. We actually did a lot of new stuff in rwibtiens, (Female white wginmring switcher) These rmittttian seetions are momous. They usually consist of just a smaller lecture where the T.A. will wark problems on the board, but students don't g& a chance to speak or ask qumtions, (Female white engineering switcher) Shdents want& sazalX, well-organid rwitations in support of their large classes, W e r e this was provided, class size was not, in asld of itself, report& to be a protalem. They also wanted graduate tmehing assishnts to receive training for the teaching and lutoring work that they did: At that school, graduate students are rquired to take; a course in taching, and about the way theirpaeicular scheol rquirements work befare they shrt.T.A.ing ...They didn? believe that this university didn" thave something Iie that-that T,A.s just came in without any training at all- (Female white m g i n e e ~ ~switcher) g
They've got to m&e; sure every ?".A. is quaifid, and on an q u a l levd within any course, f f the class has five 'T.A.8, make- sure you've got five qually qwlified T.A,s. (Male white engineer-ing switcher)
h a g w g e Problems with Teach& Assiftants A thwry which is som&imes offer& to explain either the phenomenon of high S.M.E. switching ram, or poor shldent evaluations of S.M.E. pedagogy, is that the proportion of graduate teaching assistants whose first language is not in r m n t years. mroughout this study, we ask& sbdemb ifiemce, either for swikhhg dwisions, or for their level of satisfactian vvitb S.M.E, twcEng, of bejng hught by fore;@-bra faculty ar graduate students. As the iceberg table CIgble 1.6, Chapter 1) indicates, the effgt of foreign twchers cm switching deeisians proved to he negligibte (3.3 96). However, 29.5 percent of switchers and 20.4 percent of non-switchers cited lanyuage-relattlx1 problems with foreig-n T.A.s as a e m c m at some level. AJlmost a31 of their obmnrsztions eoneemd gmduate swdents rathe md o d y a bmdhl relaid to problem other t b n thorn o f co hkratingly, by far the gratwt number of these concerns were just two of the mven campuw, although this sejernd uxtrelatd to differences in the propdion of fore;@ T.A.s to non-foreim T. A. s. St-udeots' pproblem with the; English s p k e a by non-Ameriw T.A.s were of t-vvo kids. The least comm~nly-ciMproblem was insufficient eo the f m w g e ta explain complex idor ta underswd md answer nly cited difficulty was that of adjusting to fluent English spoken with an unfamiliar mcent. Stzldents tended not to make these {inpistic distinctions, but glossed them both as difficulties of " f i t l e n ~'':~ The problem generally with people who don't t p k EngXish is that they don't undeistand your questions. They don%uderstaind what you m a n . And that is samewhat of a minor *btion, but it doesn't bother me that much, That w s n ' t any hRuence on why f left, (Male whik enginering switcher) Fluency in English, I would say, is a factar Irt physics. Several T,A.s that didn? have enough communication skills tx, h p a d preay eompIex idas. Not only that, but their confidence Xevel is affmtd by their inability to eornmuniea.tr= efhtively. And they bworne withdrawn. (Male; whitn enginwring non-switcher) X would say the language problem depends on the T.A. I had one who was from China, and be was rmlly a good T.A. Conceptually, he explain& it rmHy well. Every once in a while you couIdn3 teateh a word-just a small irriation rmIfy. I also had T.A.s where you couldn't undershad them. And then it's not an inribtion, it's a wdl. (Male Asian-American engineering switcher)
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The perceived impdame of both types of problem varied enormously. Most complaints were ancillary to other learning difficulties, or to complaints about T.A.s in general. Also, undergraduates' high level of dissatisfactionwith faculty pedagogy puts more stress on teaching assistants to compensate for those perceived inadequacies. The communication skills of T.A.s, therefore, assume a higher degree of significance than they have in majors where students are satisfied with h l t y teaching: You expect to go to the T.A. and get extra help, 'cause the professors aren't really there for you. But, if they don't understand what you're asking, and you don't understand what they're trying to tell you, it's tenible. (Male white engineering switcher)
The following speaker was one of the few who explained his switching decision partly in tenns of frustration at being unable to understand his T.A.: Well, I don't mean to keep putting down foreign T.A.8, but because I didn't have professors who were able to explain it clearly enough, it made it that much hardcr-which made the next step harder. So although it was not the main reason, it's what finally caused me to switch. (Male white engineering switcher)
The primary source of this student's difficulty was tbe poor teaching skills of American-born facuIty. Inability to understand the T.A., who was his last resort, was the final frustration. Many students expressed doubts that accounts of linguisticdifficulties with T.A.s could be taken as "the real reason" for switching: One of my T.A.s didn't speak English as his fvst language, but I mean, after a while, you kind of got used to what he was saying and then you'd pick it up. I think a lot of the times people just don't want to give 'em enough of a chance. I think the people who bail out because of that, would end up bailing out anyhow. (Female white science switcher) I had a Japanese rnath T.A. my k h m a n year. I didn't find any problem. My current instructor is Turkish and her accent just takes a little getting used to. That's kind of a copout I think. It's just making an excuse, you know, for your own inadequacies or something-just to blame it on the T.A. (Male white engineering switcher)
I had a guy from Afiica in Chemistry. A lot of students complained that he was hard to understand, but I thought he was great. I think some students were using that as an excuse as to why they weren't doing as well. (Female white science switcher) I think that's kind of a copout personally. It's kind of an insidejoke with most people. It's an irritation sometimes, but I can't imagine anybody ever actually quitting because of it. I mean, if that was what they said, there would have to
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be anoaer rmson that they wemn% l a h g an to. (Male white mginmring switcher)
As the last
u@xcw"for m m y rmT( tQ
of t k s typct; of ampuses suggmb
with a m u n b of c;a to the mp-goah.ng thwfy offmed by undefgmdwte p a s : Engfish d q u a k l y to convey the maecisll. I A lot af my T,A,s did not cauldn" tndersbnd; what they wem & W g about, I remmber my fint r-1 problem was my T.A, I didn" go to seetian far the whole quader and that's when my hwrest s h f i d fawg off. h d then spring quader the sram &kn ig hapwne;d, By this t h e X was totally dirrcouragd, And my gmdes of course, were .Fabg off bmause I wasn" ggaixzg to swtion. [Female whi-te science s~tcher]
b t h e r than al1owhg their simtisn to decorate to the p i n t where switching m m & the only aption, most swdents who r q d problem in unbmsmding their 71". A, s i q l y drop* &at e1w md r-ok it later, ICn disciplinw with a Kgh prapfiion of g d w t e swdaks whs were nat dusted in this couatv, it ing supgad role. )3[ Iricatiam problem with foreim T,A,s mast: co e x p r w d is the ty that h e ~ c sbdents a have in acZjusting rmt cade~cmirr pronunciation by pmpfe who are ffumt, or native, English s+ers.4 Pmr mchg by fwulty places mdue stress on all W c h g assistaals, mast of wham rweive no t m i h g for this WO&,In this sibtioxr, as we have illwtrated, by far tfae most i t qwIity in W h h g assistirntrs, regardlws of tinpistic differences, is their vviilirxmew to work with uadergraduatm an szn hdividual bwis.
Switchers md non-swi tchers were vi IXy wmimous in their view that: no set of problem in S.M. wm mare h n& of urgmt, mdical improvement than f8culty Alf rela,M mtters, including cunriculum revision, were dmmd to this a d . We fw1 that this point c m o t be over-strmd scs we have absemed in visits to S,M where refom m are alrady undernay, the first re& u n d e d e invariably concm curriculum stmctum father than the qwlity of W c b g . ms is undersbhble. Fwulty cunentiy hold a, wide speetmm of beliefs about fhe exbnt and eau= of S,M,IE. undergradmte attrition-ineluding , at one extmme, s e ~ o udoubt s that a prablem of any kind exists. h this sitzlation,
it is w i e r for r e f o m - ~ n d dfaculty to b g h by propaskg stmctural chmges without t h a t t_o established m&= of &aught, practice md a =dous s t b w t to rduee wdergmdmte attrition in t h w ty will km fm& with the question of how ta &dress &air s as behers, frx their role as paying of suggestions a h u t how to
SWdenb o f f a d ttnro me of haw a professional level of sfills in futlhmenkls of a c h diseiplhe. n e y were in geneml agrwment that all twching assis b t s should r m i v e tmGn pments; that they shoufd be m a i t o r d and mento& by faulty g o d tackng; &at they should not be r q u i r d to t a c h new m k i a l in r~itationsor laborabry sessions; md that their role in giving hdividwt md s m l l grow tuitorial assism= should be paramomt, Strorzg support wm exprmsd for a sysbm in which d l faculty wh md mpbomare classes should r m i v e professiond B devote time to ial c r d i t for this in the rewards sysbnn, twhiques should be offer& by institutions. Some students doubt&, kraw~ver, that this wm possible, given the faculty's paramount intermt in remrch, the c u s t o m q faculty rewar& sysbm, and the fi ciaf depndence of depa&men& and mlleges on hndimg from w u r w outside the ixlstituition, St.ubents h miversities especially felt that the k t compro&se would be: to augment the relatively small numbr of Faculty interwtd in taching by a p p b t i n g a spsial group of faculty who were speeifieally rwruitd for their tacking sJr;ills:S X suggest hpmving the h ~ h h by g having a cert;ain number s f profegsors that just want to do ~ s w r c hand , other professors that are inlerestect in tmehing. Qr, maybe have them teach alternately with resarch, so they don? have to w o q about both during the same semester. (Male white enginmring non-switcher)
Tmchers n d to hiwe more of a focus on taching, and their tachjflg skill8 n d to be developed if they don" have them, Otherwise, pmplie n d to be hird who have good taching skills, even ifthey're not doing the rwareh that brings in all the monq. (Female black, enginmring switcher)
A more sophlsticaM version of this idea, was to develop departmental teaching "mm" toddress cunt-iculurn p1 ing, tmcfxing, student Iarning and assessment, The r e ~ l a membrs r of these groups would be faculty s E l l d in
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t w c b g , T.A.s,, undergmdmte advisom, and where they exist&, s p i a l program dirmtors, and p r caunwlors: The fa~ultywho should be planning the basic classes nneed to be a tarn, with the people who are invaitvd in ~ c h i n ghcluded, as well a&the ~ p l who e h o w what" going on-2ke the &visors and the women" pragntm dirwtor. mere's not much p i n t k&g your advisors about your problems with a pa&ieuIar efass if they can't pass that along where it can do some good. (Female; white enginmhg non-switcher) The T.A.8 and the fireulty ~ c h i n gbig chsses need to work much mare closely. The T,A.s need to learn hour to tach from p p l e who rally know how to do it-and how to plan out the class material and the I&s in a way that m&es sense. And the faculty n& to keep cheelrhg in with thern, and getting f d b a e k on the questions the students are asfing. And they n d to give the T.A.s dirwtion, One o f these days, t h q k e gonna be pralEessorri. too, (Female white science non-swikher]
Twckng; tmaos also a d ways to coordina(e their offefings to shdents across di~iplinesmd with departments whose sbdents are? 'sewieed' by &sir intsoductory elmsa. m e y also need to develap ways ta monitar the outcome of their work-incXudbg ive evafuation twbiques. A b v e to include o p m e s s to collegial all, they a d to r d e review and c ~ t i q u eof their faehixxg, md to develop depa&menta-l system of peer review, Unfms &me review mwhrtnisms h o m e part of no depaflmentaf stmcturm, tmcbing imovations are unlikely to gain wider collegial w e p h c e , or to survive.
ne S)rcletam a& Contat of a Wr5"U-T~aght Tki~ plint at which good cukcultrrn pl and good tmcfiing converged in the view of shrdents, in those el p t a d primry emphasis on helping them to undemwd, and t-o apply, theoretical concepts. n e y saw this m the best framework far tezteEng fomulas and prablem-solving skills. %e of the more ductivt: q e c t s of sbdents9e;xpehenms in some non-S.M.E. dents actutllly swikhed-was discovefy md classes-whe&ar or explamtion of their a ng prwesses: was,
It's the conGepb that they need to tmeh more than the fomulas. Because if you h o w the eancepb, you can figure out. the hmulas-r look them up, (Mab white enginwfing non-switcher)
My advice would be to teaeh p p I e to think-~ve pwple a love of learning, don't just give them a fove of problem-solving. That" the thing that I see that" gone wrong. They don't tmeh p p l e W@ they2e laming, and encoufage thern to read a book outside of class; X don" think X ever picked up a scienw book or a journal outside af chss. (Male white scimce non-switcher)
Don" -eh by example alone. Enmumge hem to salve the problem by g a b u t it. But you go- take the t h e to do it. wale whik science non-s*&her)
If they would put the emphask on this behg a p m w s af th just a way to solve 8 s p i f i ~ t y p of pmblem, p p l e would undembnd it b-r. (Mate white s c i a w non-s~tcher)
f even &ought a b u t changhg my m@or m m o ~ t i o n .You don't have e do any pmfessors should always j u s ~your ab%ty to m m 0
Dealing with %why'as well as %W' qumtions, and syXXabuw, t a e b g methods and s a d a t m ~ s m e n bin ways w ~ c h e students to hi&, read about, d i s w s aad apply conwpts warn Seudents liked to "fipre t h g s out for thennsdves," but they also n & d an inleflslual stmeture with which to cto this. AsIkitlg them to discover underlying prinGiples without S conwp-l hmework wm marety hstrathg: I've had maybe three: hehers teU us how it all fits into the big picture-as oppsed to Just givhg you topics ail over the pkce, and yaukre suppsedi to figurn out what that mmns in the whole seheme of things, (Male white enginmhg non-swi&her) A lot of them seenn to have this idea that if you figure:it out for youmdf you'll know it; so muoh bet9er. WeU, that is such a joke, bwause if we could all just &urn things out for ourselves we would all be 1 s t N ~ e~W n . You must be shorn how it wa&s, and then you can r s r w k or extend it" There" no logic to me in the ather m&ad, It% s waste of t h e . It's fmstrathg. (Female white exxgbwhg switcher)
In mathemics and physics, they twch you the problems, how to use the fomula, how to solve the problems. But they don2 give eau a p e m l view of where it" ail lmdhg, L was one of the bigest problems, l think. w a l e Mive b e f i m n scienec: non-swikher)
Students apprseiaa class content &at wss lively, stimulating and up-lodate. They liked to be mentatly (=&er &m xnorslly) challenged, and dev.ela@ hers who stirnufat& them and their own mtionale encouragd them to Somexlne who challengc=-sthe student, I thid, is a good tacker, but they n d to do it in a way that is enwurzlging and challenging, not just a hard-ass ehaflenge, (Male white science: non-switcher) Media1 microbiology vvss grate I lovd it-got an A--but I work4 harder than ever before. She motivaM you, excited you, and demand& your very best. h d 1 like that. En a elass where someone is just doing a, general coverage
of soxnding, it lulls me into sleep. I wonder w h d e r thk pmon is rally teachkg me, or is the book my h t ffiend? wale whib science non-switcher)
,but they don't rally rmgnHe modem The &X& they choose ant:quite twhnobgy or talk about i@hplematatians-which is the excithg part about lamkg this, I &U.So I'm ddisappina. (Female white e n g h w h g non-aeteher) I might have sbyed in en&mhg, but I don%3hink. that (he;y rafEy taeh you to be emtive-where you laok at som&inig and put it togder, I see e n g h w ~ as g a vefy cmtiw dbeip*e. But h a , S%mope numbem. mey're;
h p m t too, but I t h dthat if p p l e are gohg to m&@ real b they n d that cmtive stimulation from &eis tachers. (Mate white engineehg swit~hc=r) Importaot aspeck of lively classes were illustration, application and demonstration: h d if you t m h sornhhg, show an experiment that goes along with it. Female white: scimce ktcfier) The chemistry professors bught ta the pwpb who had alrwdy had it and who rally eomprehende;d it, They didn" apply it to r;om&bing that the rest af us would u&ers&nd. There wereay any analogim, (Female white S G ~ ~ R G C switcher) A good tacher ean explain it not on@ h genemEties, but can respond when I say, Tlwse give me an emmgIe s f how to do that.' Examples are very
imprlant to me. (Female whik mathematics switcher) It's the lack of exaimples, espieily complex examples. They" give you a shple example, but when you go to do the homework there" always other factors. One important thing the professor should Qain class is to supplement the book with lots of exampleg, But that doesn't happen. (Female while: engineering non-switeher)
Xn contacts with faculty engagd in of growing suppod for expe~enti
i d renewal, we have become aware -on mthoclls af tachlrzg thmretical
exwhen& l a m i n g t w b i q u m g seienm at the college levd-dthaugh some had f w u d on doing or diseov experienGsd this- in high shm1. Because of their poor experiences witb ~ them as a chore: rather than as the laborataxy sessiorrs, most shdenh s p k of heart of their scimtifie education. It did not, &erefore, smm to wcur to most s@den& that labs, fidd work and expefieatiaf classrmm work could oeeupy a more central role in undergrdmte l ~ m i n g , m a t sbdents wmM univemlly, however, were well-prepard md o r g m i d classw, b a d on a gwd underswding of what sbdents could be expwM ta h o w axld do at m y particular shge, and empathy with the lamer's i n m u ~ t y$&dents , want& to be able to folfow the mcher's Ilagle through the
1 70
%a Learning kperience
stmchrre and styte of their p htion, XR their view, the good tmcher wafks swdents though the id-, emphwims bis or her mental route with %impostsv and re~latrtycheeks that shtderxts are foffowhg "theflow of ideas: A good leacher works in a very d&ifed manner, in sm organ&& top-tobottom, beginning-to-end kind of order. They also have some sense of haw it feels to be a beginner, (Female white anginwring switcher)
I had a e-ttlcrrfusprofasac who appraachd it from the level af the student and it was just the gratest csurse, A lot of t h m don't care or they don't k m w how a student lmms. They just thmw it on the board and a p e e t everyone to be able to see it. (Female white engineering switcher) I've had courses whe1-e you sit in the cXass for an hour and f 5 minutes, just B e a buff& t-cain, and don't tknw what happened, And I took other courses and it was just fabulous. We would say, 'Okay, now I'm going to t d l you about this, And here's what it is. Okay, this is what I just told you. Do you undersbnd that?%And you go, Wow, that is so c l a r . W e said it three times, as opposedt to, 'Oh my Cod, what's going on here'?' ((Male white engineering non-s~tcher) He'd wait and m&e sure that we understood everything and didn" assume that we knew it and say anything to make us fwl stupid. And he went over the book in a logical order. He didn't skip amund and get us all canfirsd. (Female white enghafing non-switcher) M a t shdents mostly w m a from class ilrssimments, tests, and exaroinations, w a the ehmee to consoti&te, coafim a d enhance what they h e w . They a d v w t d ing assipments serve the fmming p r m s s such that grades became an hoaest reflection of their s h k of cctmpr&ension and skills rather than prims in a contest where the erikria for success were obscure:
I think they need to eome into the; classroom with the attitude of, 'I've got to help these people undersknd seetions one, two, and three today. That" my goal by the end of cIass.Wot, 'We're gonna cover one, two, three, youke gokg to be test& on it next wc=ek."(MlaXe white enginmkng non-switcher) My physics t a c h e i was exeeuent, ..We also held problem sessions where he'd go through problems and explain things. He was very helpful, and not critical at all. (Male white science switcher) It m k e s a big diffemnce with me that the home;wark is discussd, so E learn why this or that was wrong, Sometimes yaukre missing a m4or point, but if you go b a ~ kthe next day and the h c h e r reviews it, it makes sense, and it shys with YOU. (Female white science svvitcher)
me G o d Teacher Gmd tacbers do d1 of the foregoing, but were also defined as those who, er of their tacking, show a primry concern with their studentsYrearning and apprmiatian of the subject. In the cfiassroarn, the most
t prsonal attribute of good mehers is their enthusiasm for the dis~iglinein penerd, and far the mterials being bught that day: A good tmcher is one who makes me want to learn more about the tapic-or presents the material in a way that IYLf want to go and r a d things. You h o w , there" a spark &ere. (Female white enginee&ng switcher) Most of them just act like, you h o w , "ere we go qain. h o t h e r semester of this.' I say came in excited about it! Show p p l e haw much this really mans, and what you estn rmUy do with it, and where you can apply it in the future. (Male white science non-~wi&her) He was an older man-65 perhaps-but he was still rally excitd about what he was doing. He had a lot of enthusiasm, and you couldn" help catching it, (Male white science switcher)
The good mcber focuses all his or her effods on m a x i ~ z i n gsbdent l w ~ n g .This attitude pervades the stmeture and tone of their cIassroom premntatioa, m d is smn in their rmdiness to organim effstive hdtorial bmk-up sc;ssions, whether with T.A.s, peer learning groups, or on a personal basis: The compuer class t h s I had was phmomenal. It was bught Fjointly by the associate dean of engineering and another prolwsor. They did an extremely good job of taching us, and they gave you Ists of extra help when you n d d it, You just knew they were there: to help you out, (Female white enginwring switcher) He covers stuff quickly, but he's very thorough with it, He covered everything in the &apter and eneouragtged peaple to ask questions over and aver again, and he tfies to explain them to evepybody, And he% available. And W have review sessions before tests, so p p l e can ask bst-minute: questions. (Female black science switcher) The bioIogy professor would eorne to Iab sessions, and you" feel like he knew you, and would help you out. A lot of the professors give the leelure with a, microphone down at the bottom of the room, leave, that was it, They provide office hours, but you b o w they don" want you to show up, It" not the same as the professor who says, 'Well, let's hold a, review session. "Female white seienee nan-swi-ccher) A good tacher encourages you to seek help from your friends, from your T.A,s, fmrn them. (Female white engineering switeherj There's ways to t a c h , There", 'E want everyone to do well, and E'm gonna9try to make evevane do well,' or, WeX1, this is the way I'm gonnna do these tests, and if you don't like it, tough. Xf you cant handle it, that" too bad. You haven" {leameclthe material and that" your fault.' II've had teachers bath ways, and it's so much better to have the first kind, You learn more, (Male white seienee switcher)
to them, i n ~ f d i n gthe ant culture in S.M.E. g, plagia~sm, or mough not d l sbdents liked g support for a sEfil.from faculty
reic~ed that the eircumvmtion of the wllabmtive l a ~ n g ? irclsismce an s o l i h v endavor:
.
There" no logi~to me in figufing out how to do it by youmelf. It% s waste of t h e , 2% fmarathg, and it &ves you the false ididea that it's s o n g to s h a x infamation..mem%s inbnse;Xy hdividuahtie fwhg that they use to try to push studenb out, Sbdenb are afmi to talk to a ~ oaer h about the most geneml of idms, (Femab white enginwhg sAtcheI.)
In the gbeml arts clmses them is group intemction, somethes theyql aactuafly force you to internet with fellow studenb. And I think t h t helps p p l e to iievdop socially, and provide-s a b&er ovemll Iearnhng expfience. ff you%@ vvorEng with sommne you g& different idas rather than trying to get evemhing from a text and from a rmlly dry Iwture. So more group work in hard science would kelp. male white ~eieneenon-switcher)
C~lMarativekemiag eRmtive use of peer study groups was cited as contfibuting ts 11.5 perant of wikhixlg decisions, mci wm repofid by 16.9 percent of swikhers overall. Hawever, it was a stronger contributor to attritianr among e n g k w ~ (14.3 g 96's)than among wienee and =themties (8.7 96) wikhers, md (fox rasans we vviIX diwws in Chapbr 5) wm more eo among male (15.7%) than among femle (7.5%) switchers. The exIjlmatian far this disciplixuav differenw appam to b that ceu~culumoverload, promation of the itive ethic, and proscxiptiom against eollabaratian, are all strongest in enghw~g mjars: We were e x p M to h o w so much, that if you didnt L a w it and someone dse wasn3 t a n g to explain it to you, then you didn9t get the hfamation. You couldn't do the pmgmms, A lot of the students felt t;firmta;ned-that they were competing against the other studenb-and would not assockte with other as far as gming the homework done, I fa3d that class. members in the d a s ~ (Male black enginee~ngswiteher) I still have a horrible time getthg people to work with me. Xt forces you ta do a lot more on your awn, And f t h &at% ~ iir=t;rimental,Because here you are, racfing yoursdf ovm a prabtem that wutd be explainaid very shply in a group. (Female white enghmhg non-witcher)
m e clear, the sig&ficanee of collaborative fronically, as enginmring s ~ o d shuiy for persistence is even gmter in enguleering prexiwIy k a u r s e the W&out sysbm (ineluding comptitive grading) is most strongly establishd there:
The only way you can survive in an mginwriflg progrrrm is if you can sham infornation and work problems togeher, If you try and do it by yourself, you're not going to m&e it, (Mab w h k e n g h w h g non-switcher)
to s m b g out p ~ wro r b g P e d e shdents W=@ generally more w w t o groups, md were less inhibited by the competitive ethos than were male smden%, However, b f h women md students of wXor were hamprd by isolation w i t h their clas-: Z was very shy, so I wouldn" go up to sommae and say, 'Want to have a study gmup?' 1 would just go home and be e o n h s d , It's very different fmm high schoof where yau talk wia other students and with the taehers. I had to change my major, Female black science switcher)
In deseribiag wby they failed to establish s a y p a d e s f i i p or groups, fy repo&d either that they had tried to mt up s group, bat bruS met rwismee to the idea, or that they felt an imer raistflslee to w a h g with othem: I was l o o h g hmard to having study groups but no one seems to suaest it, or when I do, no one ever foUows thmugh, That bothers me a lot beeause it helps to be in a group to explajn things. (Female while: science switcher) It's hard for me to get into a group and sbrt; working on a projat or assignment. To me, it's akin to chafing, I want to do the whole thing. I stretch myself a bit thininer because X have to do that much more work than the next person. (Male white enginw~ngsw;iteher)
mough they aehowl&g& the culh;rml obgtaeles to workng collabratively, nly felt they nilight have rwolvd them h& they apprsiaM bow vital, to their survival group study would k I frgurd it was just a mamr of buc&g down, and I studid on my own preay much. I didn" study with groups, I think it%probably b a e r to do that, but X just didn" t e advankge of it. (Male white enginwhg switcher) T'he si@fiemee for sunivail of workng togethm to undersmd mteGals
prewntedi at v&, for a fimer g r q of conwpts, md for emotional support k o u g h difficulties, wm stmgXy emphiwiA by non-switchem: I%e fmally l m m d to f o m study groups, At first the kpression was that X had to work alone. 1 didn't rmlize ofier geopXe had the same probgems and all I had to do was talk it out a Ettte bit. (Male; Mispanie seienee non-sktcher)
If it wemn% for other students, X" white e n g b m h g non-switcher)
dbe a lost dog. I would be hurtin" (Yale
That was just essential for me. Othemise, 1 would have felt redly alone. It made me fml a lot less seared in physics. (Female white engineering nonswitcher)
X probably would have drop@ out if I was all alone. But with so much s u p p n and all of the p p l e around, you're like, 'Ymh! X love this!"(Female
Mite e n g h w h g non-switcher) e the best. That is absolutely the The classes where I did study with ~ p E were best way to da it. Worfing togdher you get different insight on how to solve problems, (Female whib enginwhg switeherf ace: of obswatioxrs in mpgae of graup 1 students of color is not aecideabl, nough sktdy pa~nersmd groups wem atmost unmimousty cited as a wluable-even eswntial-dernmt in persistenw, they were mare wught-%&er,used, appreciatd, and missed when unwailable, by students from under-regfeseatfxf groups, Study relationships also have a nunnker of indirect, long-lasting effsts. Among these are development of a seam of banding to, or belonging within, the discipline:
It% End of a bond, a sense of belonging, being a pert of the group. I &ink that helps pmple do well, too. It helpd me to stay interestd. (Female white engkeefing non-switcher) I have a group who g& togdher and have dinners, and we call ourselves, 'The Geologists from Hell. W e study mgether and W help each other out. We chwk eaeh othershaswers and encourage eaeh other along. (Female white seien~enon-swilcher)
My group wm so small that when one person got down on something everybody just sort af helped out, If one person was having a problem on a problem set and was fmstrad with it, it was not a problem for sameclne to sit down and say, T~oukrr:not thinking about it I-ight." (Female white enginwring non-switcher) Xtk grat. We study together all the time. I mean, these are f ~ e n d sthat Ism sure I'll kec;a far the rest of my life. (Female Asian-American science nonswitcher) Et% nice to know that somwne dse h a w s what you are going through, ssmmne that can share the joys and pains of going to cfass, (Female black scimce non-switcher)
Xt gives you people to identify with and feel s p i a I on campus. It shrinks the campus down. (Male white science non-swikher)
Both wikhers and non-swikbers dewrib4 the unique educational benefits s f collaborative:l a m k g which took them far beyond what was possible in cfass work alone. mwe includd: reinforcement of undersmdixlg and skills; Zmrning hing; genemtion of new idms and applications; at a deeper Iwel; laming by personal intellstuaI challenge md growth; wiitfinyless to share nristaates and learn from them; plwuriz in d&ating intellectual issues; and discovering the enjoymat of I w ~ n g :
me Learning Bperirnee
1 75
Even the snraaest ones still need that other p r s p t i v e to make them say, 'Oh, I never thought in that .way,"o we bwame almost a class in ourselves, you h o w , taehing back and forth. (Male black engineering switcher) m e r e 3 a constant mhc=amalof the promss of tt.linhg and using the strategies. male b l a ~ kenghw&g sdteher)
You try and teach sam&ody and you strenglhen your awn bowledgemso that is rally beneftcial. That helps you keep the infornation long lzhr you've e e n the ourse, so youke just not dow-loading it on the test. (Male whik science: swikhe;f) If you help somwne out in something you undersand well, they21 help you out in their arm in return. 'Cause most students do have a r a s where they're rally good and a r a s where they're bad. (Male white enginw~ngnonswitcher)
X learn more f b m going over the homework with my friends bwause they pick up on my mishkes and on their misbkes, too. And we all benefit more than just s o m m e showing me how W do it. (Male whik science non-switcher) X think it hdps most to go to your group first, to the T.A.s next, and to the professor last. But working together is the very best thing. (Male white enginw~ngnon-svviteher)
Some other valued fo of help which pwrs or more s n i o r students in the m j o r am oRer bclude advice an elatsses and squencing, and suppod ancl encoumgement at times of difficulty: I had an uppr-classman help me through a lot of times, He was just a, ymr ahead of me, You n& someone Xke that, sort of a mentor. (Male white science non-switcher)
I just gave up going to my advisor and figuring out which tachers X should take. You go talk with other students to find out what classes they had good experiences in, (Fernale whik scienee switcher)
Help of this kind is sometimes fa o r g a n i d by the institution, but is more often part of a fmtekt;y/sorofity rk, or a =mice offer4 by women" and o~ties-ieties or program. Not all %&dentsliked working with others, and in the hostile and muituallysuspicious environment encourag& by strong W&-out systems, bad obsewd students who used the work of others to gab a competitive advmhge. n o s e who apprwiatedt the value of group less highlight& the need to choose pamers of a s i ~ l a ingelled: r ment level, and to c;sbtsllish a warEng focus from the outset: I've always studid alone. I find it a lot easier just to concentrate on my own.. .And if some p p I e area 't prepard, you just waste time. (Male AsianAmefi~anengineering non-switcher)
176
Tlhc Learning Erpcrienee There's a risk. They might talk about other stuff--talk about girls, or whatever, and you can waste hours tike that. (Male white science nonswitcher)
I just work so many hours on top of school, I don't have time to waste while someone else gabs about evcqthimg under the sun except what needs to be done. I fmd it very annoying, and I get more done when I do it myself. (Female white science non-switcher) It's important to fmd the right people. I have a lot of fiiends in those classes, but we didn't study togdher very well. We just had different study habits. It's true that much of what I learned came from studying togdher, but with some others, it was not a good idea. (Male white engineering non-switcher) You really need to be selective about your study partners. (Male white engineering non-switcher)
I study much better in groups of two, three and four-where everyone is sort of on the same level and can help each other out. (Male white science nonswitcher)
These o h a t i o n s again alerted us to the difficulty of establishing effective collaborative learning arrangements in learning cultures focused on individual competition. They suggest that group study may be more effective where faculty take an active role in setting up the system and offer guidance about the choice of study partners and the most effective ways to conduct study sessions. Students' observations on the circutnstances in which they had formed study relationships also offer pointers to the kinds of institutional arrangements which encourage their formation. On all seven campuses, we found that communal living arrangements (whether dormitones, houses, or fratemitieslsororities) based on academic interests or majors were an important natural inducement to the formation of study partnerships: Living in the dorm and having older engineering students there, I learned how to study with other people. (Female white engineering non-switcher) Seven people in my dorm are in the same classes and we just get together and try and work it out. That's helped me a lot whcn it gets hard and the teacher leaves you hanging. (Male white science non-switcher)
Less commonly, we found faculty or the directors of programs for underrepresented groups actively supporting or organizing activities-based group work. However, most students made their own informal arrangements, and found mutually useful study groups largely by chance: I didn't purposely seek out someone, but was just lucky to fmd someone who had been in some of his classes. But it should be something that people know about. (Female white science non-switcher)
On every campus, we were struck by the enonm,us informal contribution made to persistence by collaborative study arrangements which students had initiated themselves. On three campuse, communal living arrangements were offered to some S.M.E. Freshmen, and some S.M.E. departments at the two large nstrrch universities had introduced peer learning or regular studentfxulty small group tutorials. Elsewhere, we found few formal attempts to incorporate collaborative learning into freshmen or sophomore classes. Departmental initiatives temded to begin only after the weed-out process was complete. However, non-switchers s t d the importlace of introducing students to group learning at a much earlier stage:
When you're in a lecture hall of 100, you're very lucky if you c r a t e bonds with people in your own major. In the lower level classes you don't see so much of that. But I think it's important. (Male Hispanic engineering nonswitcher) If you make it through your first two years, engineers tend to come together because you paid with blood, sweat and tears. I stayed friends with people who stayed in engineering. (Female black engineering non-switcher) You have to draw these new kids in, and give them a sense of community, 'Look, we're all engineers: we're gonna stick through this thing together9-like the few of us who are left fiom the freshman year, I mean, we're tight. (Male Hispanic engineering non-switcher)
What is so striking about peer p u p learning is that it is relatively simple to organize, costs very little, and, in the almost unanimous opinion of students, is so clearly and immediately effective in increasing persistence. If the cultural impediments to collaborative learning in the first two years of S.M.E. majors can be overcome, its formal incorporation into the cumculum and pedagogy of basic classes clearly offers one of the most immediately-available, cost-effective ways to increase persistence.
Loss of Interest and the Appeal of Other Mqjors Lack or loss of interest was the most common (43.2%) of all reasons offered for leaving the sciences, and was mentioned as a concern by 59.6 percent of all switchers, and 35.5 percent of non-switchers. Taken as a group, criticisms of S.M.E. pedagogy (36.1 %), development of gmter interest or perceptions of better education in non-S.M.E. majors (40.4 %), and (a related but less 0 t h mentioned) preference for the teaching approach experienced in non-S.M.E. courses (8.7 %), these four factors contributed more to switching decisions than any other group of issues. We have often been told by S.M.E. k u l t y that, for the most part, the loss of bright students to other majors is not cause for alarm; that it is. largely a benign phenomenon and represents students' realization that other majors are more appropriate given their (presumed) greater intrinsic interest in and talent
for t h m . We found some suppart for their psition a w n $ students vvho diseoverd disciplinesnot o f f e r d in high sehoal, and among those who had bmn ~ e mthematics to the neglar of other talents: push& into s ~ i e n and I just made myself believe that I wanted to go on to enginee&g, because math md scienw we= the classes that I tikd in high school. But when I got ta coUege, X really hated the work, and found the GbraX arts classes much more chaUen&g for me. Phifosophy was so mueh more hkresting, more enjoyable. (FemaEe while engineeh8 swikher) The kids wlza are really brigfit in high school and junior hi& are pushed into math and science. This is w h 3 h a p p n d to me. I was pushed into those fields, and when I got here I found things that were outside the science fields that were rally interesting. (Male white e n g i n w h g switcher]
E think it's ralizinp that t h e ~ ec h o i w are rally them, bwause you don't set: all that's open b you in high school. (Female white enginerjrng switcher)
W e r e the theory oF the 'appropriate switcher' appears to bave xnnst v a l i d i ~ , however* is not among the white m l e mjority to whom it is mast o h n applid, but among those stude~tsof color who am reemiM in pursuit of iXr~ xninorlty pa&ieipation in S,M.E, mt?jars, but with insuffTcient regard for their intermts or level of preparation, (This issue is discusserf. in some detail in Chapter 6.) C o ~ t r a qto popular fwufty blief, we found switching in r m p i t i o n of a stronger interest in ai non-S,M.E, discipline to be mueh rarer than switefing in r a p n s e to a pdagagy which engmderd loss of enthusiasm for m S.M. E. diwipline in which the shdmt w m interestd: E enjoy& the lab urork-that w s really enjoyable, But f guess the physics an6 the calculus classes rmlly turn& me off. (Female whib science switcher) E had enough of the sciences, largely bwause the classes were so boring. I found there w a w lot more to team, to expand your mind, within the s o ~ i a l scienms. With stri& seience, it's just textbook, textbook, textbook. (Male white e n g h w h g switcher) f w s passing okay, but I wasn't toinhas well as I knew I could beeause it had to bmome a real shore-memoking dull, old fomulas. So I kind of
s & M
i&aveup on the idea, and b e a n to think, Well, maybe business.' ((Nsle white engineering switcher)
As we, and others, have stressed, to have a good chance of completing an S.M.E. major requires, primarily, a combination of intrinsic interest, ability and adequate preparation. Students strongly endor& the critical rofe of inkrest in their motivation: I think that if you really enjoy the subjeet, I don't tee a need for any rmson to switch out. (PemaIe white scienee non-switcher)
You have to have the inkrest and the d e s k . X don't think the problem is preparation. I &ait's s o = interest, (Mate white e n g i n w ~ n gswitcher)
I spent more time actwfly doing hornwork than I've done in any other courses, but I couldn't have ear& 1ms what hppned-I m a n , what the answer tiras. X was fmishd. I was just trying to get through it. Once I had the answer done, ;f didn't remember what it was, (Male white enginmring switcher) The main switch far me was 1 got to the, p i n t where I felt, 'I just e m %do this beeause I don't want- to, 'lf ink I bad to g& to that point before I could Ieaive enginw&g. (Pernab yhite e n g i n w h g sgteher)
As we d i ~ u s din Chapter 2, m t bowing enough abut the namre of the major being seXecW was m i m p m l reawn for Isss of interest. The hdher some stildents urent in the discipline, the more they rwfi& their dislike or disinterat: Et's very practical and some of the appliclition stuff is rally fascinating. Unfof.tunatefy,when it wmes down to the hard core stuff a lot of what youke doing isn? tall that a p p b g to me, (Female white enginmring switcher) X rmlizd that althou@ E like progmmming, I rally had a h o s t no interest in anything more complex than that, X" rea1Xy not into carnptfers or oprlitling systeims or such. (Male white scienee; swibher)
There were some classes I raUy wasn't- enjoying. And as I got into some af the more technical and more thwretical classes, I found f had absolitrtely no interest in making the t h e to study, (Male white mginwfing switcher)
As both switchers md non-switcbers strangly ass@&&, stildmts who were prepard, adeqwte to the task and enter4 with a well-found& initial interest in science and mthematics, often found their interest dissipate$ by the ducational expefience itself: A lot of them were vefy, vecy capable. It's just that they didn't want to spend the rest of their lives doing c h e m i ~ t qor math...It was just too boring for them. (Mate Asian-Ame~eanscience non-switcher) Most of my friends did really weXI. And I think a lot of p p l e in engineering can do it. I think it's just a matter af whether they want to or not. (Male white; enginaring switcher) 1 like math the-oreticaily, but just day aRer day after day, it just wore me down. And it's soot that I eauldn? do it. I just didn't want to, (Male whik engineering svvitcher) X think a lot of p p l e eould have gottm through it. 1 know that by the end of my saphamore year I was rmdy to quit too, and that" just beeause you have so few courses that are crative, ar that are really into your major. (Female white e n g i n m ~ n gnon-switcher)
g thhgs apa&and pur;thg thjngs tog&her. I think there" other p p l e who have a natural inchation for that, and if you wanna keep them in there, you have to teach it bmer to keep t b m fmm g a i n @sidetmckd abng the way, (Male white e n & w ~ gnon-gwitcher)
with e x e e t t in ~ nsn-sieaw elm=: I thw my four y a m wauEd have been &&ble if I only focus4 on scien~e clmses, b m u s e e v e m i n g would have bmn faets, and regurghtian of facts-no 13x1 convemation, no studies of civilmtion or culture, [Male white science non-wileher) I &Mthe engkmns &at Game out of here. ..I m a n , tS.leyPretohlly one-track minded, tunnetvision p p t e and it's really sad. w a l e Asian-American enghmring switcher) It2 hard to be crative in an atmosphere itke this. (Male wlxitt: anginwing non-switcher) I*ve found that &ere%very little blemnce for anything that has any kind of subjective quaility, It got to the paint where it was very bo&g. (Male Hispanic science switcher) You think, 'We@,all I have b do is mAe it through the W&-out courses and youke completely wrong. There's no then it'U start geMting kbmgting,"but rmm h the s q u m e e for humanities, and you h d out you71 be &ng six aerospace courses a s m a k r . h d that" just inwneeivabb. You" hhae to be some kind of dmg addict. (Mak Asian-hehcan engineering switcher) I think staying in g&s you more and mow nanrow. In order to stay there you have to have a eertLSrin mentagity not to look any &*er. (Female black enginering non-switcher) You need to read more than one source; you need to awurnuhk difhrent oghions. I think the biaest shoek to me is that sciences is nothhg more than a paradigm; it% s way of solving problems, It's so different than the phaosopher" way of solving problems, But they don't look at it as a paradigm. It is a religion, I mean, these p p l e are devout to it. I meain, 'TTh is the way you do thkgs. If you want to do it another way, g& out af here,' (Male whi& scienee non-s~kher)
I think, having s h i m into history, I enjoy it bwause it allows me in on inteflwtual b d s of pursuit, In engineering, X always felt I was stmggling to find out what the big p i n t was. With hisbry, it's eexpmtedt that%what you are doing. (Male white enginmhg switcher) To me, it" sanity to take o&er courses b w u s e if I had only enginwhg courses, I would fmE like my mind was in a box and tbak I cauldn't relate to the real worEd, (Female black enginw~ngnon-switcher)
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181
It's jjut a plaw to get eertifid to g& a job, not mlty an &ucation. (Male white en&e;ekg awilcfier)
As we: shall disuss h Chapbr Q, shdents l m b g for a m r e unugwl b l d of disciplines w]u:ch include m b e m i e s or seienw, in pursuit of a particuliar carmr or ioterwt, m m t i m a enwmterd an unimginative or inflexible attiade: &ward their qimtians: I was t q h g ta double major inpmonat wlations. I couldn" find any professor g that had anything to do with enginwhg. mere% a that was evm , and they just can't: see it. (Male white: esghwring non-witcher)
Shrdents who lost inbrwt (as a p p o d to those who were misguided or ~ s a e - oin. their choice, ar who had imfficient interest at the outmt), typially repod& a g r d m l shift out of the m j o r wfiich we have descriM thoughout this accolunt of our findings as a "ugh and pull"rocess.. Because af thdr initial hterest, md Ihey were doing well enough to continue, these students b a m e hvol prolonged dialape: with themelves, and with those clsse to them, ia, wkch they dabatd the pras md cons of switching. Far thme sWden& wecially, the expfience: of good t w ~ b g encounters , wit who tcmk a permnalt htermt hthem, and g& inbmsbips in rebdXing a flagging iakrmt. T%is group wm an i t k n m u r & by timely faculty &teneation, or by whom persistence ~ g hhave: a more lively ducational expfiance:: I came in here d a d s& on bmming a chemist. But there's sot too much crativity at the tower levels, And that eonwmed me. I took some Gem=, then some Linguisti~scllrsses, and the next thing I know I'm graduating in linguistics. I came in very Whie, and ended up very fuzzy. (Male white science swi&her) It didn" have e n n y t h to do d t h grades-just the class was prmy bofing. Perhaps it% tough to make ealc tremendously interesting. There" s ton a f math in wonomics, and I%ve m U y eome to view math as much more of a tool than as an inhemntly inbssthg subjmt. (Male white mathematics swikher) X was still doing just fie, but I wasn" to excitaxf about the day to day g ~ n d stug that we did. I knew f was looking for someaing more. (Male, white science switcher) X had bqun to be bar& in aerospace, and I h e w that X didnt want to stay. I took a few Spanish chsses, at fir& b w ~ u s eyou need to for your core rquirements. But X loved those cjasses. I thought about changhg from enginmhg, but X w a n % sure. I was still doing well, so I say& with it for another semester. But a h r that, 1 stop* dahg so well, bmause it" sot what I w n M . (Male black e n g i n s k g s h t ~ h e r )
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Tlxe Learning fiperiertee
I always Eked ma&, and I was still good at it, so I was thi htegmb it with bushms. Then, aAer toohg at it some more, f Ind ta confess that I'd last much o f my k&rmt in it, and X changed to gwgrirphy. (Female white mathematics switcher)
It wabs also this group who, havhg d e b a a the prmnal mlevmce of their S.M ,E. m j a r for same tim-nat meo y the whale of their first two ywrs of wfieg-were apt to take a rsther sudden h a 1 decision to leave. hovrring prwisely what hcidmts h l l y trigger& their decision to switch was rarely helphl in mders-dhg its e I got out of my last final and I went home and f said to my room-mate, 3 hate this, I don't want to do this, X want to be a sociology major."FemaIe white
enginwting switcher) I was stmgling for a couple yars, trying to decide what X want& to do, Somewhere in the middle of the summer I'd made up my mind that engineering was what I was gonna do-X was just gonna stick it out. Then a wmk before elasses ststdd, I had this divine inspiration that I want4 to change it all. (Female white enginmhg swikher)
Seveml lines of practiwl xtion in support of grmter persistence are suggesw by our findings. The strongest, 'by far, involvm a radical revival of the qmlity of t e a e ~ n gand , more attention to the livelhess, edtucatianal brwdth m d intellecbl challenge of syllabus sffe~ngs.Such initiativesneed to hclude: o r g ~ &dqadmentail support for the training (or recnuitment) of faculty and tacking assiswts as mchers; rewards for good tmching and tactring bovation; devefqing the h b i t of cofXegial discussion, review, md evafwtion of hching and student assessment practiccss; grwter emphasis on sbdent g, q e c i d l y discussion, application md hmds-on discovery; and crmtive, systemtie use of peer group laming strategies. Crwter personal hteraction betvven facult,y and undergradwtes, not solely in time of a c a d e ~ c difficulty, also hielps to bond students to the discipline, reinforces amdenric interwt, and impraves the chmce that sstudents whose izzterwt is Ragging wifl be noticed, supporter%,and c~unseledtowards m appropriate drxlisim. T"here will always be wrne proportion of students who enter S. M .E. m;ijors with insufficient interest, preparation, or howledge of what will be involvud, and some who discover that their g r ~ k talmts r fie in non-S.M.E. mjors. However, evidence from our bxt data leads us to conclude that the propartion of "pprophate switchers7s far smller than is popularly bdieveb: we propose that a sigaificllnt proportion of able, inbrat& students could be rehind, and the educational aperienee of those who stay considerably enhancd, by paying greater attenticln to the mcbing and learning cowerns which have k n highlighted by students in this study.
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183
1, We do not, of course, assume &at these expfieaces are unique to undergraduaws in S.M.E. majors. 2. The widesprad aceepknee of Advanced Plaeement cuheuta and prfomance scores as a measure of high sehool achievement is an interesting exception to the; popular nation-wide distrust of educationat shndltrds,
3, The exeeptioxls to &this are advisory semiees provided for women grid students of eoIor. W e r e these have a good rquhtion among students, they are envied by white males prwkely because they offer a one-stop prsonal service, and deal with problems ;in an intemehtd way. One of the co-authors of this repart, who was born in Bfibh, experiences this difficulty-from the other side of the comrnunieations exchange-on an almost daily basis. 4.
The appintment of t a c h h g s p i a l i s b had atrady begun ag one af the two resarch universiGes, but the numbers involved were still small, and none of the students whom we k b w i e w d had, as yet, eneounbrd these faculty, S,
6. 'This philosophy and these methods are, for example, promoted in the pedagogial workshops offer& by Project Kaleidoscope; the "modular" approach to undergraduate chemistry being develolperf and t e s a in the N.S.F,-sponsor& multi-institution consofiia such as GhemL*s and M P ;the "New Tfsrditions" innovations of chemistry faeult;y at the University of Wsconsin, Madison; and "Workshop ChemhtryV'at the University of Rachester, New York.
Career and Lifestyle, Time and Money h this chwter, we wnsider six factors contributing to attrition which rcr;Awt ivem on their dvemity ed as a preparation for life md rise: rejection of carmm on S.M,E. mjors, and of the lifmtyles they are prwumd to i q l y ; the
f non-S.M,E. careers wbeh
m m more appling; doubtkg whethm the rewar& of m undmgrdwte S.M. E. degree will adeqwbly cornpasate For tire effort r q u i r d to eomplete it; s w i k h g as "system-piayiclg'; mnmms about the Froancial problem of completing aa S.M.E. =jar, and a b u t the length of t i m requird to h i s h them. These cansideWions illuarate the 'pwh and pull h a a r e of the prwesses 1 d h g ta switchhg dwigions. They (ilm refXwt the traditional role of undergradwte education in the exploration of mjor life issues and the of m j o r life cfioiws.
L&e all other undergradwm, S.M.E. shdenb seek to imagine the nahxre of their fixture work md lifestyles;. A b u t one-third (29.0%) of witching decisions and 43.1 p r m t of all switchem' eonmms reRmt rwmations about the krinds of work that will be availrtble, and the lihtylm thirt these earmrs m y i q i y . A b u t one-f-ifih(21.1 %)ofS.M.B. mkors also expresd axieties about t h m issues. Mat
Students are Rejecling
A d o ~ n m(ta d growhg) cone@mamong S,M.IE, undergraduates was that the work available to grdutes-paftieularly for thaw without a higher degrw-would not be; fulfilling, enjoyable, or have a woehwhile purpose. mey worried that the only work availabIa to them would be at low levels of respnsibility and autonoxxly, or waufd d expense of other valued lib interests:
Career and L g e s ~ l e
.l85
X h e w pmple who were p d u a t h g , and the khds of jobs they were g m h g swm& to be quite d m & m d to me. (Male white: enghwring sktcker) My fplther had all these plans h t f eould come to I ,IB.M, and get a stablejob, I m a n , s&b%ty is fme,but if I'm not enjoying what I'm doing, then I don't care how mueh money it p y s , (Female black science switcher) For the fmt few yars, you" under sommne else doing back-up work,. .It smms as ~ o u g hbusiness will give me more Eulfillment, (Male whik e n g h m h g swikher) If I'd ended up in civil m g h w h g , I was pictu&g mysdf &ng these concrete blocks and putting them in eompmssors and finding out when they exgfodd, and why. it didn" sseem like a thrilgng prospect. ();emale white e n g h e e ~ gswitcher) Oh, the tdious calcuhtions, and the desk work. And not being able to relate to m p l e in a way I want to. (Male Asian-Ame~canenginmring switcher]
For switchem, these thoughts a b a came: late: in tbe process of discovering the actual naure of the mjor md the mrmrs to which it 'Their prajectims were not aeeessarily well-founded, but they were ofien powerfir1 enough to prowt or reinforce the discussion to Xave: I had no doubts that P would be able to make it through enginwring school. I just don't know if I w u l d have enjoyed it when I got out there, (Female white engin~~n switcher) g Pmplte: rally n d to figure out what it's really all about, I think that happens when they start to say, Well, maybe this isn't t w b 1 want ta do, It's not what X thought it was h e n I got here.' (Male urhite enginmhg non-switcher) Just fmding out that P wasn" t e y interesw in the carwr, even though I did well. I sbrted to w o w about that, I didn? want to do this all my life, and I was frustrtrtd that X would have to. (Female Asian-American engineering switcher) Once X found out what an engineer stetually did, I was kind af bard with it, f found that I didn? actually want to be an engineer, But I didn" discover that until I: actually got here. (Male black enginm~ngswitcher) X had romanticid enginwhg-I did not have a grip on what it rally was. I mmn, what you do every day-how you w r k , and how you relate to p p l e . (Male white enginmkg s ~ t c h e r )
All the t h e it's in the back of your mind that youYI have to get :L jab in four y a m , but you don't want to toil at somdhing you're not enjoying. (IMaliewhite enginwring swit~her)
I h a r d that engineers made more money than chemkts, and that sound4 good to me. And it was a big misuke. As soon ss f s t i l f i d the real engineefing
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Career and Lgesqle
classes, f rmfizd f hat& what enginwrs did. (Female white enginwring switcher) X would try ts see the end product, but teachers were always very unwilling to t;tk about that, e s p i a l l y the pure science tc=a~her:rsin your elementary classes.. .I w n e on several infarnational interviews with women enginwrs to g& a feel for wtra~tEnd of h t u r ~E might be setting myself up for. But that only led me Eurther away. The& jabs look4 boring to me. They were nice people, but they didn't seen e x c i a . They weren? &lively;they weren" t h i n g ribauk what they were dohg w i a interest, 'They didn" t w m to be an the e u ~ i n g - d g eeither. X wonder& if them was a trend to tuck women away in same lietle cubicle. (Female white engineering switcher)
Some of these conclusions were rmchd as a eonsqumcr? of student work experienws, hclltding internships; some were i n f l u e n d by contacts with working pproferssionzrls; m d some were derivd from observation of the work of acadedcs: I enjoy& the puzzle of gmelics, but I didn't have a lat of howledge about the actual work untir now. m e n I got my first field e x p ~ e n c e that , was what fuzally turn& me off-ralizhg that I'd be working h rr? white lab mat with test tubes in some dry lab didn? excite me at all. I wanted somdhing where X was worEng with people, (Male white gcicnce switcher)
My first class aller coming back from that camp experience where X 3 been outdoors, and surround& with people, I rwlized l didn't want to work in an office 'building deaIing strictly with numbers, (Female white mathematics switcher) I mean, fsak in industfy at the younger enginmrs-thirty ycars old. They wanna solve a pmblem at all costs, even at the cost of involvement in anything else in life. Xtk the enginwring dismse (sighs), you know, compulsive behavior. It3 sBen c h a r a ~ k k dby no girlf~ends,bwause they are too wrappedt up in the work. (Male white e n g i n w h g non-switcher) 1 don't recall coming across anyone who was acited about what they were doing, or who actually enjoyed it, I would ssmc=times find the project tht=y were w o ~ n on g interesthg, but not what they were actually doing to achieve it. They seemed very removd intellc=ctually. It was like there was part of you that you were going to have to ignore every da.y, (Female Asian-Ameriean enginehag switcher)
I had kind of an idealistic view of being abXe to work an a prcqjmt that f klt might be impo-nt. But, since 3M is a big employer here, most sf the chemial e n g i n w ~ n gwomen that I m& w r e working on glue and tape. I can't see geCting excitd about perfwting the proeess of putting adhesive on whbing. (Female white enginmring switcher)
I began to wander *at I was suppas& do, And they took us on a lour of this place working far the defensc:dqartnzent-building weapons, And I began
Career and LFies~le
X87
to feel this was definitely something I wouldn? want to do. And then there was also the hostility towards us from the men who w o r k 4 there, f thought, 'I can" ddeaf with that every day. "Female white science swibher)
y engineeriing freshmen enter& with little id= of what It wm 61-r that enginwrs s u l l y da, PLS they developed a pichre of engineering-accurate or not-some students begm to question whether they would rally like the work, Tbeir first e n g i n m ~ ge x p e ~ e n c a wually , srs inbms or 'm-op" in their junior ymr, often settled the m t b r . Convermly, some non-switehers, who had worriesf whether they were in, the ~ g h tmjor, r e p r t d that their first prufessionzll experience had been critical in their decisic-m to remin. As we shall fater discuss, wme sciencze and mthematics switchers Xeft, in part, because they reject4 the p r o s p t a f gradwte school and the a c a d e ~ c life, However, science and mathemtics witclrers generally had much less clear idms about the nawre of the work they ~ g h do-ather t than academic wrk-than did engineering mjors, This w s particularly true of swikhers from mthemtics, whom we consistently found to have least sense of dirwtion abaut their carwrs. Both cunent anid fomer mat-hemties m j o r s complain& that, from high school onwards, their advisars promat& mthematics as a flexible major which would open doors to a vafiety o f carwrs. However, they had found difficulty in getting concrete infornation about. carmr options, either from career counseiors, or from mthematies faeulty. On every camgus, we eneaunterd a number of mthemties switcliers (prdorninantIy femle) who were high achievers, both in high school and in college, but had bwn unable to find satisfactory carwr goals in mthemties: X always loved math, but, coming into the sophornore y a r I s t a d thinking more about what X was going to do with my life. ..And peaplc: kept telling us there were all s o m of things you ttauld do with mmath, but they never told us what these were. (Female white: mathematics switcher)
I talk to some of my f ~ e n d s&at are math majors right now, and they're saykg, ' m a t am I ganna d a y 1 m a n , they look to grad school because they don't kmow what else b do,..Pwple say you can do so much with a mad1 major-the problem is P d i n g it. (Female native American mathematics swibher) You start broad, and now you?ejust nrrmawing down your life to this strai&t path going somewhere. But no one ever gives you a clue about what kinds of things youkre supposeri to be doing out there. [Fernale white mathematics switcher)
h our mrlier discussion of the C.1.IR.P. data, W not& the high proporlion s f mathematics switehem who were undeclarerl in their st?nior year. This finding 1 observation of mathemtics switchers as more is consistent with aour info uncemin about their carwr direction than any other group of science or engineeiring swikhers,
ILs8
Career and L i f e s ~ b
Scienee md m t h e m t i c s swikhers, who rejecting their m j o r s inGludecd m r m r and lifestyle eorrcms, gave X, diffuse reasom for their decisions than did e n g h w d n g w i k h e r s . They dwcribd their seareh for a balm& lihtyle, in wGch work wm m i E flbut not the d o ~ n m t ) factor. They valued work for it's iotrinsic satisfactions and the social purposes it sewed, rather than for its material rewards. Some rejected the lifestyle that a r w m in carpam& science (including thorn in the defense industv) cunnotd for them: You hear of tlie cornwition, and you tfiinls: abaut what the world of science
has become. X think my genemtion doesn" tant to do the conventional thing anymore. We don't t a n t tQ ddicate ourselves to one carwr-to have a job with one company and w r k our way up. (Female white science switcher) 1 don't n& to be pushing myself in this math major just to make money-to keep this lifegtyle I've bwn brought up with going. (Female white mathematics switcher)
I Ends looked at a couple of jobs, but I rmlizd, no mawr what I did with math, it's pretty mu& going to be a nineto-five job in an office. Right away, that was my biggest turn-aff. It's not so much math; I still love math. (Female white mathematics switcher) It's an dhieal kind af thing-a large progodion of the jobs are defenss, depaflment. (Male white mgaematies switcher) The top scientists are employed by the pvernment. So many of them end up building weaipon systems. Youkre left wondering if that's what you shouXh do. (Female white science switcher)
I was concerned about shying in physics and ending up like my fathermaking parts for nuclear wmpons-which we have had a tat of family arguments over. A lot of it was a maser of personal ethics far me. (Male white; science switcher)
h describing the nature of the w r k available ta graduates, switchers in all S.M.E. mjors drew u p n a set of myths and sterwtypes, We found the same set of beliefs strongly r e p r e s n t d an every campus a d across all S,M.E, diseipliues, The; mythology ineluded images of scientific w o r k ~ r sas automata doing soX1bry w r k in confind, sterile, pnfon-like surroundings. Work was imagined to be intellectually dull, repetitive ("brain-numbing") and defined by u b o w others in a remote orgmizatianitl hierarchy, Working conditions were of long hours under stressful conditions with Iittfe job m u r i t y , Metzlphors of entrapment, life sentences and solihry confinement p e m a t e the descriptions:
I see myself in some room surrounded by a bunch of machinery, punehing in little things, and making connmtions. (Female white science switcher)
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189
I t h my~ prcqtion of what s0mwn1: who went intO the sciences did was fakly namw, 1 assiimd that most p p l e went on ta work in computer labs, work& for cities as: civil engixxam, or in d a i p companies, h d I perceived a life sprit in h d of a white room, male whits science s ~ t c h e m ) It swms U@ it coutd be namMg-&e it couM block you in...If I didn't g& mexfisine, I" have b n stuck with mi~mbialogy,It% &the namwing, or the l w h g in, h t ' s part of it far me. PemaIf: whib s c i m s gkhher) 1% bbe man: connfoMIt: in an offiw &at's a little mam laid back and sociable, and dkcussw a Xiale m m of what%gohg on in the world =&er than what the: latest compukr deveiopm~nbare. (Fmale white en@mhg switcher) One =son I drop* out is because X like to be around pespfe, X didn't wanna be design&$ something at a desk by myself. f think that guys are more apt to like WO&$ by aernsekes as oppsed ta vcror~ngwith gmups of people, (Female whib enginwhg switcher) f had this niatmare vision of behg lock4 into this s k ~ Iwhik e lab, punching a computer, and it smm& m E y mid-Be a cog in a bieer whal, (Male whirtc: e n g i n e h g ~wiwhelt.)
Studen;ts also imgiaed that, in order to purme S,M. E, wrwm, they would have to embmm a p m m wEch wm alien, to their o w p m n a l i t y . m e y pdmyed e ~ g b w r s , afly, as dull, unmiable (ofiea mtef.;cialistie)gesple who lacked a pergonal ox m i a l life and were wabfe to refate comfombly to non+aghwrs, They were also p o ~ r a y drts uncrwtive pwple, who avoided or dwt.ied the idea of a b r a d e r edueatioxl. Some thought the sciences tended to attract gmple who a l r d y had these prmnafity traits, They also saw the md their pmm k g i ~ n gfQ develop these undesimbfe eharwteristies as a c o n w u m c e of the lifwtyls they were wnstabd to adopt in order to survive h the mjor:
f guess I'm tao crative of a prgon. Evevane s w m d so one-tfitick. I didn't f i d a single engineer thrst would go with me to a good mm-they wouldn't focus on anything except math and seienw. f coutdn" relate to t h m at; all, I was doing all ~ & t ,but I gat extremely frustrat4 with the life. (Female whib engincs-ehg switcher) Pmple who sby in physics are pretty intmvew socially. The mare outgoing p p l e go into somdhing else. (Male white science swikher) W e n I skrted out as a freshmen, I thought, Well, at least 1311 always have a date.' Damn, was I ever wrong! Vau don" date those guys (laughing). (Female whib enginmhng non-%witcher) You have to be very Wious and a perfmtionist-SO, yeah, it does take a certain kind of person to do it. (Female white engineerislg switcher)
190
Career and L f e s ~ l e 1 got so tired of people taEng about school-that" all they talk about, It seems F i e e n g i n ~ r have s so few interests. It kinda. drives me away, (Female white enginwring non-switcher) X" glad I didn't go into physics: I'm too much of a thirrbg, sensithe person. (Male white science switcher)
The science professors, probably more than the other professors, tend to be sr little more nanrow-mhderi, I never saw myself like that. (Male white science switcher) You have to believe there" oonf one way ta do anything. There" so room for movement. It doesn" tallow you to fornulate your own opinions, or to grow. (Male white enginmring switcher) You find a lot af money-gmbbers in engineering. (Male Hispanic enginwring non-switcher)
f guess that's why it% hard to stay in the major. You look around, and you see a11 the other p p i e have beeome like the professor. And you think to yourself, Maybe X h in the wrong place, I h not Like these people with pock& protractors. And E don't want to be that professor, X don't want to sit: in front
of a chak board, And I don't want to w a r clothes like that. "Fernale white science switcher)
The truth, or athewise, of these perceptions and projections is not the issue. However d i s t o d they m y swm to S.M.E. h u f t y or field professionals, they matter in so far as they contribute to the loss of shdents whom S.M.E. departments nnight pre.efer to rehin, However, my effort ta wmwt the imgery has to a e into account what genemtes and pepemtes it. Dirwt personal howledge of the work of a f a ~ l member y or friend m y lend it erdence, as may student work exprience: My dad s ~ n d all s his time at a desk without any interaction with pmple at ail. For people who are introvefid, it might be grmt, but for those who like eontaicting pmple, it would be kind of a nightmare to do that far the rest of your life. (Male white science switcher)
Like my dad" an engineer, and he sat in the office all day. X'm riot that type of prson-l" not a pencil pusher. (Female white enginaring switcher)
The imagery also suggests that students make projections a b u t the personal and
working lives of scientists and engiawm h d on their current life of confinement, rwtrietion and dmdgery ar; undergraidwtes, S o m have atrwdy begun to feel changd by the experience; they observe changes in others; and they note that some of the most suecesshl stvdents have pefsonality traits which they dislike: Itvs probably a very skewed picture-to envision myself working in a lab by myself, with no interaction with people-but that's just the way you are wlzen
youke a student.. .and you see it going on forever. (Female white engineering switeher) W e n K first thought of being a doctor, it waisn" Eke a lot of peapie brownnosing and s~rarnbfimgto g& As, It% hard to k ~ that p vision and then see the kind of p p l e weke bmming, (Female white science non-switcher) I &ink they are made campulsive by their ducation. I got married to a wonderful girl, and tftat gave me a bit of focus and more motivation. Suddenly, I wulidn't sm myself doing that work for the rest of my life-stuck in a room with a flarescent light, ns windows, and labohg aver a microscope-, (Male white engineering switcher)
If you compare my social skills to my room-mate%-l m a n , he acts like an idiot when we go out. We w r e at a, bar, and he was even embarrass4 to order a drink. And I said, 'It's okay to do this. Irk okay to go out now and then," Kt w s right at that nament that X r a i i z d how bad it rally was. It swms all right when we're all tagether, but not when weke with other pwpXe. (Male white engineerjng non-switcher) With little oppomnity in the first two ymrs to '"d science", to observe the faculty (with whom they have little ather than formal eanbets) at work, or to discuss wbat &ay, md other field practitioners, actually do, the mythology goes uncomwtd, a d is wntinwlly renewd.
Shift to a More Gpp%aliw Non-S.M,E, Carer Option Almost one-third (26.8%) af witching dsisions were made with an alternative (Le,, non-S,M,E,) mrec3r diration in ~ n d Fwting . d r a w toward a non-S.M.E. earwr wm not, however, czanfineul to switchers, On every campus, we found a group of seniors who were, in effwt, switchers, in that, although they intend& ta graduate in their S.M.E. ma~ar,they had either decidd upon or were mxiously conside~ngworking in a field which was not . Overall, these "raduating switchersbacount& far 16.5 percent of our sample of S.M,E, seniors,
Mat Stdents am h o k i ~ t gFor Most students had clear id-, at least in broart term, about the kinds of work, or work contexts, which were appmIing to them, Feeling d r a w towards a part-ieular arena of work was m n as an irnporhnt r w a n either for skying in a m j o r , or far lmving it. A few strong themes dominated switchersVdescriptions of the kinds of work andlor lifestyles they were ssking. First, they sought work which was intrinsimlly interesting, and were often prepard to settle for lower mteriat rewards in order to da it: They didn't seem to iove it: it wasn? t passion. It was more, "Well, it% a sbble jab.",.,l"ulygo81 is to find something K like, and I guess I don" tare so much about the money. (Male white science switcher)
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Career at& Lgesyle
I look at my f ~ e n d who s gmduated last y a r , and who an: m&ng a whole lot of monq w o r b g 8Q hours a week, It's jjut not the kind of life X want, I'd be g tcl take less pay ta fmd somahhg mom suited to the way X want to go. (Female white enginwkg switcher) Et% a very stable job, and you" gaonna m&e a lot o f money, But I de-cidd X didn" t f i y care about the money bmause I felt it w s h& limitkg my ehoiws, In the end, I ehaae, the InMmatbnal Relations field. (Male white science s ~ t e h e r )
Second, they looked for work that served a social purpose of which they approvd. This hcludd a daire to h. Twhing W= wnsisbntly poftmyed as an kltemalivekr "deviarxtbrm, wKch a hmdhl of switshers and nonswitcherg pursued despite the disapproval of faculty, family and peers. The desire to work in support of environmental protection was alsd a recurrent theme, which on some campuses was supported by a number of relatively new, cross-diwipXinaq mjors: l The main r-son 1 changed my major was that I vvanted to tach. 1" an internship with Honeyell for both of my f i t two years, I actuaLty had a deal for the last two ymrs, and empXc?ymentg u a r a n w aft:ewards. But it wouldn't have futfdd me bwausc: of my hkrest in the community, rwLXy engagecf with p p l e , Not thtrl I d;idnPtlike m&& and seienlte-l love them ta this day, But other man= hprtaint things were pulling me away. (Male bbck engineering swibher)
I Eked gohg to classes-1 fiked the material-l still do. But I w o n d e d if I wanted to be still doing this 40 years from now, when what f actually want to do is sameaing I befieve h. I could see myself doing a tot of things-from w ~ t h g ,to bching, to being a campaign manager. (Male white seience switcher)
Bomm he---l didn" care about e n g h m h g , I could care less about m&ing the next dishwuher. 1 think we are in a fme. shb of technology right now. I'd m&ec &prove somdhntg soeialIy, because there are sa many social problems in &if country, That's where E feel I'm n&d more, (Female white enginmhng s6tcher) g of gohg into journalism and using my biology and environmental mienee that way, My mrwr won%be hpure science: it has to deal with social organhtian. f i r me, work has to serve a good cause. (Female white scienw switcher)
I have a great dw1 of ~ s p for t all the p p l e that I worked with at the proseeut-or" offi~e,E don" know haw big a difference 1 ~ouldmake, but I would ~e to work at that larger level, (Male black mathematics s ~ t c h e c ) f rmtly didn" want to be s rmwrcher bwause you'd be off by yourself a lot of the time, and I wanw to do something interactive. But I also dmided that
Cmeer and Lges~yle
J9.3
my values wemn't match4 enough to the values in the kinds ofjobs the major was lading me towards, (Female white science switcher) To go into management and m&e a lot of money is not n-ssarily som&hing I need for success. I think I would be more fuffttled doing somdhing different, It's rwBy a decision fmm the I . t ~ r t .EnvimnmentaI studies appals because I fw1 X might be helping the world more: than hutlhg it, Xt was a difficult decision, bmause I've been offerd a full-time job by f i r d with vvhom I dt'd s ea-op. It was a hard thing tx, tun? down. (Femak white e n g b e e h g switcher) But I felt, in enginmhng, I just wasn't going to be eontebuting much.. Maybe in envkonmental engineering, I'd be eontributbg a GttIe mare, bwause at l a s t you%@trying to solve problems for future generations, Maybe you'd never g& into a position where you could have mueh influence, but simply to be designing more cars st3emd kind of dead to me. (Femalte white engineering switcher) M a t is striking about this set af obwmations is the willingness of stvdenls to reject job oppmnities they had alrmdy bwn offer& in favor of w r k which
irteovrated prefemd tifmtyles, values a d social goals. Switcher8 ofien, stressed their desire to work with pmple in some kind of unity rids. As indieatad in our disussion on the choiee of S.M,E, m ~ o r sboth , mle shdents of eolox md at1 women tend, more ofien than white m l w , ta enter 3.M.E. mjors with altruistic earmr motivationis. 'Ibis difference prsists in their rasoxts for switching: I knew what X wanted to do with myself. I want& to do somelhing where I'm around a lot of ~ p l e and , I" helping-something human-orient&, (Female Asian-American science swikher) I was inter=& in explo&ng ways I could help the black community.. .f didn't just want to go and work in industry., ,f was more interest& in how to educak the community-to use my technological skills for that somehow, (Pemale black e n g i n w ~ n gsi;vit.eher) X" thinking of mching, writing and bi-lingual dueation. f plan to bring a n t into the school system on the reservations. native American e u ~ ~ u l uback (Male native American mathematics switcher)
I think I'd like to translirk. But E'd also like to do social work with irnmigmnts from Mexico, I'd dike to help p p f e . (Male Hispanic science switcher)
I can" honestly say I've closed myself off to math, it's more that rnath is cutting me off from the things I love-like JUSC rally understanding pwplc, and being around them--like this summer in camp, I'm btaking off next semester, and I 'm going down to Guatemala to work in an orphanage, (Female whice mathematics switcher;)
We bave eonsi~fentlyobsemed that women find it msier to give themelves p e b s s i o a to rejc=et a eonventionai, m b ~ a t l y - f o c t x dcareer path in favor of
f 94
Career and L f e s ~ l e
an klternativebrwr b a d on intrinsic intermt, self-development, altruism, or the raeeid for social interaction, We discuss why this m y b sa in Chapter 5. However, bere it is impo t to reflect that one rwson why S.M,E, matjars seem to be less attractive to women and ta y studenb of colar, is that they are smn as offering m inmfficimtly congenial (or wodhwhile) ccarmr or lifmlyle. Again, the validity of students-rmptions abut the work of science and enginwrlng is less impo t than tfieix consquenc=es~ As we i n t i m w in the previous s t i o n , switchers ;are also looking lFor what swm ta them to be a h d t h y balmee k W w n their work md the rest of their lives: This msh just came ta me. X knew I was not going to be happy doing this for my fife's work. I think the tdium was the major part. I just cou1dn7t see rnyseXf doing this for the rest of my life. But it was also the fmling that enginmfing just chums out p p X e that know nothing about any~hingelse-just no contact with socidy-who don" know what's going on. It's just plug ahead, do what you have to do, and never understand the ramifications of what you're involved in, (Male white enginmring switcher)
E didn? enjoy the p a p l e E was working with, Everything s w m d to revolve around money and prestige, X guess I" more concerned with enjoying what I do. They were preay one-track in their thhxing, and I had a hard time relating to them-just no views about potiti~sor art---X guess they had never had time to develop then, X just don't want to work with pwple 15e that my whole life. (Male white science switcher) Not fwling cornfomble with either my s u p e ~ o r or s my pwrs made it hard to fee1 part: of the program-even though I was getting through my cIasses, They were a very single-minded group-which X admire and respect-but I couldn't relate to them, They were very inbnse; and spent all their time an their engineering studies, bccause that's a11 they s%ernc=dto care about, I thought of it as an inbrest, but it had to be your life pursuit. (Female white enginwring switcher) Just the impomnce of p i n g to a museum, or a galle~y,or the theater, or something-I mean, if I mentioned this to the typical engineefing major, they'd say something Xike, "Oh, why do t h a t m e r e " a programming contest. ' T h e y wouIdn1 tee the appeal. (Female black engineering non-switcher)
I like to have conversations about stuff that's happening in the world, and discuss what we are doing in the light of its implications,..But inteqersonaf dynamics isn%something a lot of enginmrs are prepare8 to deal with. (Female white enginwring switeher) I wanted to study physics, but l didn't want to bestome a physicist, X don't have anything against the discipline. In fact, I, may well go back into it iater, but I just couldn't canfine myself, People who don't have an Education beyond math and science aren" rally whole people,. .They didn't rally push me out: I soft-;i decided to leave them. ( e m a t e white science switcher)
Career and Lres~Ie
19.5
For some men, concern to fmd a bit1md worEng lifestyle also includd a preference for s work -text in which tlre gender distribution more cfomIy reflects that of the no We noM oa. every campus that a sub-wt of our info switcherg, s o m ~non-switchem) w r e tmkhg for 'a g a d compro&sebjor. These sMents want& a mrwr in wEeh they could combine the h o w t d g e a d sKlls gained b S.M.E. difzciplinm with those of other diseiplinm mdlor with a r m of pmonat bterest: I still wanM the m t h bmuse I liked it, but I" pr&ty ide;itGstie, and I want& to do somdhing useh1 with my math-not just a straight maijor, (Female white mathematics switcher) Wd1, X do like computers, so 1 took some extra eoumes to build that up. And I like worEng with numbers, sa, eventually, I &ought I would bring everything together in a business degrw. Female white mathematics switcher)
The &hies and economics of halth care interest me so much more than straight biology. Xf I can pursue them without losing my schedule, I can stay with biology, (Male white scienm non-switcher) 1 stilt have the sense that I'm still in science-and I stiU have a math minor-but my concentration now is camputer cafiography. I still do a lot with eomputer algaritkms. But after working in a lab my freshman and sophamore years, X just didn? enjoy it or find the motivation...I guess I always felt there would be a relevance for it dawn the road, but I didn" always see the: application. (Male white engineering switcher) As I worked more with the analysis part off my internship, I found that I I&ed warEng as a liaison b w w n the end-users and the programmers. That" when f s h d d looking at the School of Management. (Male black engineering switcher)
X want& to stick to numbers, but deal with p p l e as well. So I thought that accounting w u I d be the best a r a far me, (brnale Asian-American enginwring switcher) It was simultaneous: I was being push& out of science while I was being pull4 into psychology. Xt was interesting to do the expriments and to deal with p p I e one-on-one. I thought, W o w , I'm rally using my mat11 in a skill& way"as oppoosd to just nurnber+runching. (Female white cnginwring switcher)
Alternatively, while retaining their interest in science and mthemtics, these studenk sought careers that met the kinds of personal and social goals dmcrihd mrltier: I definitely see a n& for p p l e with my background to go out there and change things---clan things up.. .There% a grmt n d for pwple to meet the
196
Career a d LgestyEe susbinable rids of their fofesb.,.I'm gohg for rr maskr" in forestry. (Male white engi-nmhg swi&her) Math and science are stiU in?paWt to me, I mmn, I stiU enjoy dokg physics, calculus, and chmistq, and f have no problem doing mathematical equations, So I'm not rwUy wcaphg science. I'm uusixlg it for a purpose that I see as practial, md that I c m see. benefiaing otSlers. I have begun to cansidet myself a ebatologist-I%e &ken aUt the avaiiable elasses any w y I oould. (Mab whit-e mghm&l; shtcher) math coucses because I &ought they were interesting, and that kept me going for a long t h e , Now I'm in duation, and it% like the: light at the end of the tunnd. X decided teaching would be something interestkg and constructive to do with my life. mat's what made me switeh. (krnale white; e n g h w h g switcher) The carmr I" looking at is systems analysis, in which companies come and tell me what they n d ; i develop a sysbm for them; then I impfement it: and train people. how ta work with it. It's g g e t ~away from the &mina1 and geaing out and d a h g with p p l e more, (Male vrrhib science switcher) I'm a hihiisrory major now, but I'd d i e to work with w e and land education. There" s seed for that. (Mak Hispanic e n g h m h g setcher) X want& to open my eyes to a mare pple-oriented way to use mdh, (Female white mathematics switcher)
Same depadments had developed cross-disciplinary mjors which blend4 awects of traditional science or engineering with environmntal applicatioas and ialtiw w i a a strong d w i p component. W e r e these were afferd, they were ppular with sbdents mking multi-disciplimry options which ixlcfudd scienm: I t h the~envhnmenhl classes in civil. (enginw&ng)will wentually b w m e a major-bwause a lot of p p l e are dmwn that way. E think this brings the humanities and the seiences togaher, and that's swh a jot- o f people want now, (Female white engineefing non-s.Jviteher)
Same shdents went to considerable trouble: in purrnit of their edtucaitiooaX m d carer goals-undeding doable mjors, or mccessfully arguing with their instihution that they ibe allow4 to mjor in a non-tditional blend of disciplines. $&dents did not necessafily feel they had to witch in order to find their awn good eompro&se, hut same did-often with regreh-in order to pursue a personal goal. ts, again, illustrate: our assertion that switc~rzg decisions are p r d o ~ a m t l ythe result of a multi-fwtord push-pull process. Some of the 'graduating witchem' dmcribed wrfier were also looking for a career in which they eaufd use their scientific h a w l d g e and skills without entering in a traditional science-based career:
I had a job h& up befon: I gmduaM, w o r b g as an eImt~ea1eaginwr Gth s Fortgne .%XIoompany, I work4 inthree diffemnt a m s A e s i g n , testing and then ins business area. And I was always h@main economies--I had a e n some ehsses while dahg my Double E? degrw.. .M that was when I knew X w&sn't pkg to take that jab-&at I m l l y want4 to d e ; the change to bushess. (Male white: ienginwhg non-swibher)
.
Some: of this group of swikhers revrte8 that hey inteadd to r e a m to science or mnahemtics at 2t later stags-prhaps at g d w t e Iwd, We wre: stmck by the hventiveness of the; a m r plans w ~ e hstudents h e l m in order to inco~m& their &&K& in the s i a w with ather h t e r a h and prioritiw. We were also stmek by the part played by sezendipity in setting the direction of their 'g& comprornisehreer paths they were ~ h g - o b na chance wnvmation or work exper3ence. We also famd a numbr of angry and disillusioned h m e r S.M.B. swents who had wught, but failed to find, the right cross-disciplinary path, m d who had mttled for what they described as a bad connpromise. Mlhere departmnks and colleges are pa&iieularly c o n ~ e m dnot to lose their mujtitalmtr;d sbdenh, we- fwl it would be fmitfirl to mppart their w r c h far a congenial diseigfiflary blend, md to consider a brader o f f e h g of erossd i s i p l h a v m j o m h i l o r d to emrgeat student inbrmts and new mrket n&s, ''l+%@ a p p l of alternative non-S.M,E. mjom did not always lie in their h f ~ ~~haracte~stics. i c Some switcher8 found non-S. M,E. earwrs a p p l i n g k a w e of e x t ~ s i facars, e such W attrative safaties or g a d job availability. se to instmmentalconsidemtionis is d i s c u s d in the following mtion. Xt is ailm touch& u p n h the sectians an twlhing and grduate school ss carmr choices, and on switcEng as a fom of bystem-playing', Approximtefy one-fim (19.7 916) of our total sample (20.8 percent of the wikhers, sad 18.4 prcent of the non-witcbers) told us &at they had mnsidered W h i n g science ar mthemtics as a cslirwr, Of this group, al9proximtely WO-tbirds had, at the time of their ixlbwiew, decidd not to f"ol10w though on this option, n o w who had dwidclxl that they urould tack, or were still comidering it, wem 8.7 p r w n t of all switchers, and 6.6 permnt of s o f f ~ r dfor eonside~nga Eng carwr were a nxixture of altmism md pragmtism, They reflect the m r c b for a fulfilling, pwple+hented job with a wo&hwhile purpose, corribked
arrd who could pichre the es in the role, drew er8 they had b o w , liked g with children, or expfienee of some kind, More pragmtially, st.udeats dss mentioned that there were job o p p a n i t i e s h tachhg, at a time when the work optiom for gduatets with a science or mthemties bawafaurehing at a fater S-e in
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Career and Lgestyle
heir earmrs, prbaps at profmional or college level, or after v n d i n g time in industv or meareh, h a n g the mare idalisfi~motivafi~fl~ for tmhi~lg,we hard the foflowhg: That one math teitcher made elrtsses a lot of fun. I've always &ed math, but I a n see that same p p X e fmd it difficult, W e End of inspkd me to want to tmch math-m pass it onn,and make kids rally enjoy it. (Female white mathematics non-s~teher)
Them's a big shomge of h c h e m in m&h, and &at% another m s o n E want to do it..,I was so h p ~ s s e dwith my hi& school h c h e m . They were just incredible, (Female white mathematics switcher) I fjlught basic algebm to kids who were having trouble with it. And I discovered it's not their intelligent-it% how the matefial i s presented, (Male white science: non-switcher) I 've done some tutoring and I like it a lot. It% very satisfyixlg-helping people t.s undersbnd somt=llhhg,That" the kind of wrson f t h i k I am ...I seem to be p r a y good at it. (Mate Hispanic e n g i n a ~ n gnon-switcher)
E had a math course this semester which I just loverj. E loved everything about it, and it made me want to go into pure math. But I also want to do math education, beeause I Xove liUle kids, (Female white enginwh-ing switeher) I'll be worEng with ccrmguters in the sciences with students in Junior hi@. ..HopfuUy, I 'l1 be able to provide some motivation for then. (Female whi& science switcher)
I'd d e to be a tx=acher, or even a professor. I like t u t o h g people, and l swm to be able to show them how to enjoy the classes people afien don't like. (Female white enginwring switcher)
nly h e a d that more pwple would follow their imlination to a c h were the pay or prmtige of the professisn better, or were it Less timeconsuming and expensive to undertake m education qualification on top of a baecdaurate degrm: f w u l d love to be a high school tmeher, but it doesn't pay, Tmehers just don't get enough money or prestige, (Male white engineefing switcher)
If there were any prestige or money attached to it, there" s good chance that. I would beeome a math feacher-but there" neither. (Male white science nonswitcher) It's awful to t h that ~ money is such an incentive, because you think if yaukre dedicatltnl to what you?e doing, you shouldn%tare. But we have to be able to m&e a livhg. (Male white science switcfzer)
I%ve bust& my rear for four years-121 be damned if f "H lake $18,W a year when X eoufd a m $42,000. You can't even live off that. X can volunteer to
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youth organhtions, but earn a p o d living as weU. [Male white science nonsu/itcher) CojUlg ta tach in a public high school its something I admire, and in some ways I wish I cauM do it. But, honestly, I never could live on the pay (Maife vvhite science switcher) You dcm" t a k e money behg a mathmatichn, It%not a glamourjob, and it's not necessarily a weg-payhg job. About the most common use for it I can think of would be bching-which unforltunstely, is not a high-paying position , that usuatly either. The Unit& Sbtm places such a premium on s u c ~ sand means monary suems. So unfess you're real& dedicated, you're not even going to cornser tmehing as an alkmative, (Malewhite mathematics switcher)
Mmy students lmkr;?;dbask with respwt and dnriraticzn to particular high shoo1 e c h e r s . They gave e r d i t to fomer teachers for the inspiration, motivation md sEcills that had helped them d e ~ i d eon an S.M.E. m j o r , o r sought their advice and encouragement on, visilst home. Students .Frequently hvidioas c o m p a ~ m nb~e w w n the enthusiaism md g o d pectagogy s f their f a m e r E& school tachers, and what they view& as the p x skills of mmy wliege faculty arrd their failure to hspife s t u d a t interest. 'll~eyquickiy l a m e d that t m h h g was view& as an inferior f o m of professional activity by S.M. E. faculty, though not n w s s a h l y by faculty in other disciplines. mough they did not nwesmrily agre with this assessment md wish& their faculty would pay mare atkntion to this a s p t of their professional role, they found it hard to mintain m ixlbrwt in a tmcbing carwr for themelves in the face of so much discouragement : Youke preMy mueh looked dawn an as a high school teacher in chemistry-l mean, there's stitl that stigma. The f i t rwponse would be that you muldn't cut it in graduate school, (Male whitr: scimee non-switcher) X want to put my major dketXy to use, and I think teaching will be very satisQfying for me. But it's a difficult tmnsitition, teging p p l e that f wasn't going ta grad school or medical school. (Fernab white science non-switcher)
S p k i n g ideally, everybody says it" a g r a t thing. But it still dsesn" swm r e s p t d , My friend who wants to be a eollr;lgeprofessor will probably get a lot more r e s p t than me wanting to go play science with elemenhry kids. (Female white science switcher) Teaching science? That" rmfly like a whale separate thing for us from really being in science, (Male white seimce non-switcher) S w a t s also SW t a c h k g as a form of prokssimal aetiviq &at was undervalud by the wider co ity. It s w m d to pay poorly compard with &er options, and family and peers tried to dissuade them from choosing to teach: X want to teaeh biology, but mast people X talk to are kind of negative about it-especially friends. (Female white science non-switcher)
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&*
1 mme the h&ntion of behg a math major with an education minor, and p p l e kept a s b g me why I wanM to teaeh msa, (Female while mathematics non-swikhm) Because of my dad, I had it go mueh in my h a d &at 1 wanw to be an m&wr* But X want& it b r him, It was hard to tell him h t what I rally wanM was to teach m&-& hi& schaol. (Fernate white enginmhg swi&her) linrited
t of Wa m m yars of sbdy, a grabr s u a t loan burdea and rewar& at the end, wm alsa kuatiag:
Tmchkg in high school'! No way. The dueation qualihtion is another t w ymrs on top of the Gve ymrs you%@ahmdy gone through. (Male white scienee non-switcher) X thaudt 12 want ter go h t ~ education, but it%a pst-baccahurate 18-month p r o p m . h d on= you've gmdualed with a math degrm, why in the world would you want to go through all that-unless you were rwlEy d r a w to terichhg? If they made it; asier, t em would be a lot mare ~ p withbscience; and matk degrws w3King to b w m e teachem, Female whits:mathematics nonswitcher)
Worst of dt, the p r o f ~
hose suppft and approval they wught in eXy d e h d &eir ambition as devimt. S. M. E. nly b1ieved f;o withdraw from s&dr;wts who openly
exprw& an inhrest h t w c b g : X t h fiat% ~ ultimbly tlre problem vvith ma& and science in this countq-we don" value teachem enough. hofessors are: valud, but the high school te8chers are not, ff you wsnna teach science h high school, that" bboo: you're trmtd as an outcast by the fseuIty here. (Male white scienee swiltcher)
I've never expressed it tcl my of my professors. They don't tknw, X don't thbk they'd support it, I g& the bpmsion they don't particularly like taching, and, although they'm a g r a t bunch of guys, they're a~tuallynot very effwtive Mehem. (Male Hispanic a g i n w h g non-swiitcher)
I've: nwer discussed it with any of my chemistry prafe"esars. For the most part, X[ get a f w h g of disdain for behing from them. This is som~hing they fwl they have to do, but they don% really support, anyone who wan& to do it. hflunately, E had an inerdib1e chemistry tacher at high school, and I go back and chat with him still, He klls me, Youke going to be a good teacher." f get more encouraC;emmtfrom him than from anyone on campus, (Male white science non-switcher)
n o s e wha w m M to t w h , despite all them diseour~gementstended to become covert a b u t their intentions. Trditianally, women who studied mthemtics were;the sttongest national souree af high s h d m t h e m t i e s teachers, However, as the C.1.R.P studies
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record, as the rmge of o p p a ~ t i eos p n to femie gmdmtm h c r w e s , fewer femle mtlsemties mjors ehmw m ~ f x h gas a earwr: Maybe another -son why p p t e amn%going kh teaching any mare is they m k &ey ~ now have s to a whole anay of e a m r s with the rnath degrm, kelucfing compukr sciaw, At one h e , X pmbsbly would have taught. p m a f e whik mahernatics non-sdkhell.)
Sadem&of eolor were the ody S.M.B. m ~ a rwho s r e p d any enc~umgement g from faealty ar prafesiond advisors: to cornider a m m r in AetuaUy my &visor mmended mohing: &ere%s ashaage of seieaee tmchem, e s p i a l l y of minorities. (Female native American science non-
s~t~her-)
h mm6 of the instihtionrs in which W conduct4 our inbrviews, and at y of those at which we have been invited to discuss our fmdhgs, we have " tend4 to d a e e the quality of high schwi been m d e aware of pro or to promote f.M. E, earoIlment. Ironically , mthemties and sience rt we found S.M.E. faieulty engaged in the at o d y one instihrtion g as a carmr option for their o w promation of m h e m t i e s and science ception) have we found S. M. H. bacalaurate sbdeats. Nor (with this dqartments engaged in dialogue with CoXle;ge of M u ~ t i spialists o~ in science md m t b e ~ t i e bcEng, s with S,M.E, mrwr aidvimrs, or with the rfclevmt; s b k f ieenshg boards, to develop a mhere:nt a r e r path for S,M.E, bacaf aureates w i s b g to tach, h d d , we have: FOuad very little d i a l o p of any kind bemwn the fecult?i)in S.M. E, diseiplins md those in science md mathematics eduation, mere wm no doubt in the ds of that fifih of our overall satmpfe whio had consider& mchiag m a carwr that their ambition was regard& as deviant by most of the si&ficat m p l e in their lives. In the face of such diwaamgements, that almost 8.0 p m ~ nof t ~ u n e n md t famer S,M,E. majors stil inbnded to teach.-ox bad not mfed it out-swm quite remrkable. In rejeethg. the drawbacks of the carwrs md l i f ~ t y l mwhich one-third of swigchefs felt were implied by grdwtion in their origixlal S.M-E, =jar, it is clear that some saents: were prepard to accept a modest Ievel of mteri,aX rewards in order to pursue a carwr path which wm more congenial to them. By contmt, onethird of all switchers (31.1 % p a d rejected their S,M, E. m ~ o r partly &ait did not lead to rt level sf extrinsic carwr rewards ca rate with the ego& r q u i r d to complete the degrm. Poor mtefial rewards and rejection of S.M.E. carwm or fifmtylm were mention& by identical numbrs af switehexs (43. li g) as having eontdbutd to their wikhing deeisioss, or irs additional issum of conwm. he-fifth of all non-switchers also raisd each of thwe two issues.
With. r m p E to the p e a q t i o n of insufficient rewards, switcher re a r g u d that bad the d u a t i o n a l experience in S.M.E. m j o r s futlfillixlg, they muld have t o l e r d d its d i m d a r t s , However, where their aeadenrie work had 1301 bwn intrinsically inkresting, o r to be so, they t=xpwt& so= e x t ~ s i cpost-gradutlb rewards to f i r their effort. W e r e t h m s w m d m c e a i n or d & d y , they were rmdy to consider other mjors a d carwr options. A group of mniors in an early focus group descriW this as weighkg the "profit-to-grier" ratio. Some strong sltaternentson the "grieP" side of the q m t i o n include the following: It% bwn unriduiteratd hell. Major overfaads, no rest, stress-and it's getting worse. That's why I'm Iooking elswhere, (Fernafe white science switcher) X would have liked to g& a double major in math, but it's not worth the agony. Ed ' rmlly have to put it to the grindstone, and it just isn't worth it to me, (Male white mathematics switcher)
It wasn3 a pglasure any more, It bwame pure toeure. (Female white science switcher) Life's too short, and I don%want ta waste any more time, (Female white science switcher) X consider myself someone who works rally hard far my classes., .but I really began ta wander if the trade+ffl; w6uXd be worth it, (Male white science switcher) X h e w I could have done it if I want& to, But X just said, 'Do you rally want to do this? Xs it; really wor~hkilling yourself for'!"fFemale white science swikfier)
I think 1'1x3 man intelligent person, and f came to think this wasn" t noble lifestyle. E felt l i e a slave to something thtil no longer seernd worLhy af all the effofl, (Female white engineening switcher) X man, why sky there? You know, there's no reason, And the rewards are--.-there%so rewards. I mean, X can see no Xogieal rasan why you'd shy. (Male whik science switcher)
For these students, the "profitsn of remaining in science and mathematics were thought not to be worth the ""grier": $16,W to $18,000 s~tzrlingsalary is about what you can e x p t around here----in fact, a mupie of our post-does are only getting $19,0M,..Some p p t e who Iave expwt mare-particularly if their parents are prafessionaXs. (Female white sciacc switcher)
Not only did thew students m s p t they would be o f f e r 4 low salaries, they also suspeetd there would be few job opportunities; that the available work wwld be at a low Eevel of interest or respansibiii ty, and offer poor f ~ n g ebenefits or job security:
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X was coneerned just how many people are g&ting laid-off i n s b d of being hired. (Female white seienw switcher)
There arm%rally any jobs out there for bachelor" d e e m s . h d , as soon as you graduab, no more h a L h insurance, no more anfihing.. (Male whitk: science non-switcher)
X would say, M y would you wanna go into M.C.O.EC.3 Bwause now I know that xnajohg in biology is not b have mueh of a job olpprlunity, (Fernale Asian-heAcan science non-switcher) Well, I kmda ran into a problem. M a t am I gonna do with a biology degre?. ..Do I m n t to be in a lab somewhere"!~eally, E didn? want to do that.. .And, actually, there w r e n % any jabs out there. (Female native American science switcher) Working with only a bachelor's degree, I Bgurd there wouldn? be as nueh real intdjlectuaX work ta do, It would be mostly worlring in a lab and doing the same things over and over. I feIt E was spending an awful lot af time struggling through classes for an a d resuk X r a l l y didn" want. (Female white engineering switcher) You go through hell in the sciences without: any guarantee that you will be able to w r k . W y da it? Why not be an English major? (Male white science nonswitcher)
Science and mthematies mjors who were mxious about t i ~ t e djob prospects bnded to &idthat enginw~ngmjom had more options, md could expwt better sala~es,even in their first jobs: ARer you graduate, if you just have a bachelor" d e g r s , it's hard to find a job, E think that's one of the turn-affls. ft's why people would rather go into engineering instead of physics,. .You don't have much future in this major. (Male Asian-American scimee non-switcher) Nobody wants anyone with a bachelor's degrm in physics. There's nothing you can do. W e r a s , if you graduate with a bachelor" dcgrm in enginwring, you can go out and get a job right away. (Mab white science non-switcher)
W e n we first began, inbwiewing students in the spring of 1990, enginers were i n d d much more confident about their praspwts than were science and mthematics =jars, At that stage, we hard more about poor material rewards from non-enginmrs. However, three years later, enginmring seniors were expressing doubts a b u t the certainty of work, and we hard less and less a b u t the exwtatian of high starting sabries: Well, I don" tknow if anybody's marketabb, Xt's hard to get enginwringjobs right now. (Mafe white engineering non-switcher)
I can't find a job, so, anybody who'll hire me, 1'11 probably do it ...I've got resumes out, but, with the rmession and everything, there's sot a lot of peaple
20.4
Career and Lfesple h h g right now.. .A b t of my friends don't have jobs, (Male Asian-Ame~can enginwlpirng non-swi~her) A lot of my fdends were inkmiewd hst year and, right now, I don't know if any one of t h m got a job. I had one fAmd who w a t to 35 intemiews, and fie didn" get a single offer, (Female white enginmhg non-swikher)
1" in inn hhmship with U.S. Weat., and 3% s U y not my area of hkrest. But I% @tick.with it, b w u s e I've been applying ta CenemE and Ford for som&ing in meohanical enginekg, and &ey just don't have eany opnhgs. It% hard to get in hght now. (MaIe wfiib e n g h w h g non-switcher)
It's v e q devashting. The m r k d is very bad. OveraU, the push for new twhnology is slow,,.I%e a fhend working in J.G, Penny % shoe department with his degrc;e in e n g k w k g . . . I think a lot of people are more nervous than they wsm just a, few y a r s ago-with the rmesslon, I know at least three p p l e who have drop@ out of aerospace. They all shy& in the teehnbaf fiegds, but got out of the ones with no jobs. h's a big concern. (Male white engheczring non-switcher) Right now them% a surplus of enginwrs, And that" bbeeasla they were saying five years ago tfrere was a shomge. A lot of us are serambbg for work now. w a l e white enginwhng non-switcher) M e n X was a sophornam everyone was telfing me, W e n& mare enghmrs in this country. '. ..But seniors in aerosgam right now, the job mark& sucks.. .The mgirrwm we n d are civil, elwtrieal and computer-although the elmtricaX p p l e will abo tell you cornwition is tough, beeause there" so many of them. So you ask yourself-it% almost like this big tie. (Male Hispanic enginering non-switcher) Enginwrs who e n t e r 4 their major with e x p b t i o n s of good mtafiall r m r & with a b a c a t a u r ~ t (anly), e itnd who also s p k e of their uxrcfergmdwte , o f f e r 4 growing uncertkainty education in. mWm*n-investment md risk abut jobs md income levets as m i m p m t r m o n to switch to a m j o r w&ch ~ m to affer d b t k r prospts of employment and mterial rewards, meir concern were o h n found& an direct evidence of unemployment (either generally w i t h h engbmdnp;, o r witEn padieular specialtier?;), or of the difficulties of f ~ ~ n who d s r w n t f y g d m t d in s ~ u r i n gwark appropaiaw to their qmilifications: If you can get through five years of that, you deserve a deeent job.. .Mymusin sprit a winter as a waiter t~yingto find a job until he finally gat s b r a k aver at N. A.S. A. (Male white enginmring switcher) Same of my best friends that graduatd in engineefing are now in business-including some who graduaM with very deeent C.P.A,s. One" selling yoguft; another works in a clothing store; and one guy" s bar-knder. There's no jobs for enginmrs right now. None whatsawer. And eeranautieal-farget it-that" s useelss piwe of shmpskin. (Male white engineefing switcher)
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M e n youkre s frahman, 1 don't tfi you should go far what" hat, bmause it probably won%be hot by the time you get out. [Male white enginwring switcher) Twhnology changes so quieHy inercek of these a m s , that they suddenly have e have a b mugh, and everybdy goes for that. a demand b ~ % u sthey h d by the t h e &ey g& &ern,it's over, 30 you 8s leg t q h g to chase down the fkw jobs that are out &ern, male whi* en&mhg s.\Kitcher)
n o w sadenb who stay&, wb@&@r mgkmring, science, or mthemtics, a n m m k of ways: they w a r k d to raise g more wmwitive; wught imida tmcks with prospe~tiveemployers k o u g h inbmships; developed Rexibte eareer picuts with alternative goals irnd l m k d for new =&et r;tiehes: Some of the enginwhg s p i a l t i a still bave o p i n g s . X think fire probtion is one that is suppsext tcl be a less over-subschbed spwialty. (Femle whiw enginmhg s ~ t c h e r ) I've declared a minor in education, ao I eouXd teaeh for a few yars, or wme back for a master" to be a school caunsc=Ear+ ff I don't like teaching, I can still apply to med s~hoolor nurshg, SOlong as X keep my G.P.A. up, having the biology degrm with ducation gives me more chances. (Female whik science non-switeher)
Some non-swikhem wera delaykg their baccaXaurate gmdmtion, a r canside~ng appjieaition to gmduaite shsol, largely as ways to dday their job mrch. This respnse is d i s c m d in the fmal swtion of this chapter. T%ey afso consider& prof~sionalg&=@ d e g r w in less ppufltr fields: I'm thi&ng of going on to dentistry. There should be a lot of w r k , that" for sure. (Male white scienct: non-switcher)
a b u t the Xidtd availabiliq of jobs without m d v m c d degrm was another rason: far the phenommon of 'ggradmting mitch~rs': There" not much reward once you g& out of school, and it swms &c you're mueh more marketable with a d e g m in business; than in science, And it's so tempting just to say, 'Wea, I've put in aI1 this work, and I'm probably gonna have to put in even more schoo&ng,bandjust to go out and find a job in another field, and to avoid stmgglirrg quite so mueh. (Female white science non-switcher) Even before I h i s h my physics ma;jor, I'm &inking about going in& some=thingelse. (Male Asian-Americ%tnscimce non-switcher) The perception that the car= o p p a n i t i e s and mteriai rewards of eompletirzg S.1rsl.E. mjors were not wodh the eonsideratsle: effort r q u i r d to suee& in them were mention& as a faebr in the switctaing decisions af 40-2 perwnt of science md mthemties witchem (for whom them faetors r&ed
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Career a d
[email protected] nd a m n g all factors wntributing to ing), md by 30.8 pereent of rxee~ngswitchers (for whom they fifth). The m i n difference b e m e n the kvvo groups of mjors is th the outset, engixlmrs were expec.thg mare in of mterial rewards thm were non-engineers. 'Tbey were willing ta put th the dis.comfar2s of enginmring mjors in large part b a w they m m & to pro&= that all the hard work would pay off in the end, Cunent and fomer science and mbernatics mjors (with the nohbEe excqtion of those hoping to enbr m4icaX schools) had much less clear expectations of a high level of mterial rewards. In the early stages of their wllege dueation, t h q tended tcz focus cm their discipline, rather than their carmr options. However, concerns about the jab mrket, md a b u t the difficulty of finding employment without m advanced degree, grew the longer studenk r e m i n d in the mjor, a d were a major topic of discussion among nonswiktring seniors. Generally, science and mthematics majors expwtd much thm engineers, but felt entitfd to some chotee of work considerable effoft which their science and mathematics
Financial Roblms and their Conseqaemw Our shdy w s u n d e ~ e nin a priod when workers n d & to acquire incrwing levds of bowledge and skills to compte in the rapidly changing labor mrket. However, as Mortensen (1995) p i n t s out, hetwwn 1979 and 1992, the fderal government r&uc& its contribution to higher education by $4.5 billion, and 49 staite legislatures r d u c d their collative contribution by $7 billion. Sbte financial rmurces were largely dived& from higher ducation to fund Medicaid and to expmd and operate state prisons, Universities and colleges have wuight to cover this losg by incrwing tuition md fws, and a much largm share of their @pratingrevenues is now del.ived d i r ~ t l yfrom students, Since 1980, the average WX incrme in these charges has averaged two to thrw t i m a the amw1 ra f inflation. Stuidents have expefiencd this shift as fewer grmts, m r e loans, a d m r e time s p a t working. It, is experjened by instikttians sts falling enrallment. Modensen a r p m that the opprtuni ty for higher ducation has b w m e incrwingly unqwl: "In 1979, a strudmt from the top quartile of family inwme ww a b u t four times more likely than a student from the bottom quartile to earn a baccalaurwte degrm by age 24. In 1993, the difference wa,s 13 times" "995, p.4). and illustrate its direct, personal consets, Over one-qwder (26,dIro) of all the students in our sample report& financial problems which were serious enough to hflueace their a c a d e ~ cprogress andfor carwr dirwtian. Financial difficulties were a factor in 16.9 pacent of all switching decisions, and were of concern to 29.5 perwnt of all witchers and to 23.0 percent of non-switchers. Enginwring seniors repodd more financial difficulties than science and
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mthematics w ~ a r (28.8 s p r w n t cornpad with 18.6 percant), as did cument m d fomer m g h e h g -jars overall (30.6. p ~ e ncompard t with 23.0 prcent for all science md mthemtics participmts). As we shall fizrther diseuss, enghwr;ing fre anid their fadlies were m r e likely than freshmen in science md m t h ics to have e x m t d that their degrees would ~e four r h ~ with e this explatian. ywrs, and to have made finmcirrf plms in Only Wo of the s v e n institutions (che mast selsetive, prestigious and expensive university, and the small, private liberal arts college) worked out finmeial aid packages for all freshmen, including a xnixture of scholarships, toarms and work sbdy, Despite this, finacial diffidties ranked se~ondamong switcherz;kc;oneerns at the pri.vate researeh wiversity, With the exception of sbdents in s p i a l raruitment program, swents at the other five instiwtions, had to discover far themelves which o n a m p u s and off-earnpus ageneim offer4 what kind of financial help. Less thm one-third of our participants were fiunded (to my extent) by whotarships, spnsors, ar by private resourws. AppraximteXy WO-thirds (63.3%) hacl e m out loans at some point dufing their undergradmtr"carwr; and a b u t half (56.2%)were eunently mwting some proprtiorz of their duational mdlor personal expnms, Those who were employed spent an average of 18 hours per wwk in paid work. However, in a discussion af attrition risks, this average is ~sleadirtg.At the four public instikutians, shrdents work& longer hours-commonly 20 hours per wmk or mar-than students at the thrers private instinttians. We met m n y sntdents-bath swit-chers and non-switcherg-who work4 beWmn SO asld 45 hours a week. Financial aid was universally r e p d d to be difficult to get. The ication system wans swrz as overly complex, often illagieaf, and with too y pssibilities for lirnibtion or exclusion: I gave up on financial aid a long time ago, I k q t trylng to plmd my case, but eventually, I gave up, ,it% just too much of a hassk to fight them, (Female Asian-Ame~canscience switcher) W e n they count financial aid, they count joans-which is not at all the same thing as grants and scholarships. ft makes no sense, I've paid my own way through. Even thou& f worked 15 or 20 hours right through, I" still graduating with huge debts. (Male white enginering non-switcher)
Y ~ uget fmanciltI aid from wherever you can, And its verging on fraud sometimes, but you have to get it if you am going to finish school. It's all in how you present the infornation. You have to g& a bit crative to suwivc. (Male white science non-switcher) It's the most bizarre thing: if you're not on finaneiaiI aid, your WO&-study is unlimited. The school is giving you a grant that is not audited by the government. M e r a s , if you?e getting financial aid-as a g u a r a n t d student toan, a PeXI grant, a r even ai school grant that comes from government funds-your work study is t r a r 4 as part of your aid package. The pmplc an
2 i ~
Career and L#.crsrylrr
wrk-study have ta p y f i e k bifl. at the end of the year, but t h q can't tbecause tfieyh not aflowd to m&e enough.. So they have to take on another job-whbh you can% if you" a science ms,jor, (Fmale white mathematics non-swibher)
Mare seriousty, in the o p s m of s~ors, g~ttiagmy kind of financial =ism=, h ~ l u d h gI o m , h& me hcraitlgly dificrult at a time when &irk, km, h k s , other dass a e f i a l s , aad the wst of living were ail herwkg: X got a Little bit af fmanciaI asoifshnce this year-it" only the second year Z9ve goaen anphhg. Othedse, X pay evemhhg on my own. It's not a s y And they keep mishg the tuition. (Male white maaematics switcher)
The longer I'm at this unlvemity, the more I see it; the more Z hear about p p b struggfing against the financial-aid systm, and I see more of my friends vrtorEng to put themselves through school. It's got p r a y tough, (Male white mathmatics non-switcher) Across the board, since I've bean here, tuition has bwn raised 50 permat, (Male white science g*tcher)
N o b e Q o t work study, WC" begggin for jobs. P was hired as a T.A. and thr- days l&r they eut the budg& for T.A.s, so I was the ftrst one out-not even one day of w r k . (Female white w i e n ~ eswitcher;) There was some h d of eompukr fee of $100 each semester.., h d books are more expnsive.. .I'll have four books, and it% $240.. . W e n you?e a junior, you can%fmd u s 4 books, bwause everybody's kwping them. (Nab Hispank m g i n ~ r i n gswitche;r) f 'm a annure student, w o r h g 30 hours a week and going to sehool full-time, And, wben I write out that cheek far $1,2QO, I remember it cost that for a whole year here 10 y a m ago. It% made me more of a consumer than when X went to sehool; the fist t h e (Male white science switcher)
it's g a i n 8 worse...Then= used not to be the Iimitrttions on the availability of loans that &em are now.. .Some t h e d u k g the %OS, I felt the consquenees of it-Graham-Rudman brought in a lot of changes, I was ge6ting a loan fight: when that was gohg thmugfi, and suddenly there were lhibtions. (%male: bllack enghm&g switcher) I'd say to the vieeprovost, come down to the coffm room and talk to us, A lot of peopb are rally financiab stmp@. X fell a week behind in my classes because X eouIdn%affoTd the books, (Male. white mgineefing swikher)
S o m ~sbdents who were excluded from finmcial aid program, or firnit4 in what they could get, bmuse of their f a ~ l y "Egh ineome bmcket, r e p r t d little or no hdp fram their f.ti~lies,ms was sametimtizjs a corrwueace of
fa&ly atti~desor prio~ties,However, it also r e n ~ t e the d competing d aa fa;nzily budge& by multiple m ~ a g e w s ~eh pit &e n
Career and Lf"fs@le
261P
cKlden in 8 new fa&ly agahst tbose af college-&g& children fmm a previous mhage: Vouke eonsiderd d ~ n d e non t your parents, even sough you haven" lfid at home for two years, and they haven" ccltaimd you in their income tax. m e y h paying child supwrt on ehm kids to my s t e a d " ex-wife, and they em% pay for my education on top of that,..I suppose you must find that evewhere now, (Male whib m g h a h g switcher)
X r h s a lot of p p l e Game hem [to the state schooIL)bwause they can't afford to go anywfiem dse, The fmanciaf-aid s p k m is b ~ b l eWellrer , your parents are hdphg you or not, that%what ciebmines how much helip you get, (Male white enginw~ngswikher") In my family, once you leave the house, chat" it. it,ou?re on your own. So both my brother and f h& to come here [former land-gmnt institutionl. It's not so bad for me because Ism not the Haward type, but my brother is, He finaUy got out b w u s e he won a National Science Foundation FeLXowship, and now he's h gmduate school for math at Berkeleiy, But the fmanciat side of it rally held h h bwk. (Male A s i a n - h e ~ e a nscience non-switcher) m e m % s lot with no fmaneial help at ail, bmause they wme from upper m i d d l ~ l a s sbackgrounds. They just have no money at all--like this friend of mhe that changd from a science matjor, she work& 20 hours s week through all four years of sehoof. I don't know how she did it. (Female whib science non-switcher)
Sadents were aware of, md broadly mpp&d,tbl: nationaX effod to rwnrit m r e students of cofor into S.M.E. mjors. Umfomnately, this has been u n d e d e n in a pdod of sharp ine in the proprtion of fiigher ducation wsts tb& sbdents must mmt from their a m mmings, Foeus group discussions at the sbtr: hstiQtions w e i a l l y revwld cove&, but v e q strong, feelings of remntment toward students of wXor who were believd to be rweiving public hnds to wbich white studenb in fmmcial n d had no access: As it a@p p l e tonger md fonger to graduate, you start to sec=it in more raentment, U e , 'That damn bhck Xcid siakg next to me must be g ~ i n more g that's real unfortunate=. wage vvhite science money than 1 can.' And X swikher)
Such fwlings were examrbatd where the deelard ethicity of grmt raipients was thought ta have k n fiidgd in order to get awess to hnds ar-marked h r
padicufar meial or e t h i c groups. 'This issue, a d its camequenea, are dimssed in. more dekil in Chapter 6 , The n d to m d e ~ employment e "ally offampw-in order to cornpleb m undergraduate degrw had a n f d v e m effmts on a ~ a d t e ~ c pragregss. Being employed while und@*ing an S.M,E, mjor co lengtlzend the time a e n b gmduab. This was, ironically, fudber c o m ~ u n d d
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where fmmcial aid wm r e h d in the k i t 1 yar(s) on the grounds that the shdent was W n g too long to k i s h the degrw: M my ffiends who came when they were younger graduatd in four yc=izrs. But it's gotten so tight wilJl the budgd cuts amund here, and the fact that tuition is so much higher than it was then, no one g&s out in four y a r s any more, You just have tor work your way through, and it all bkes so much longer. m a l e vvhite science swiwker)
Most p p l e at this university work at least 20 hours a week. So the average graduation time here is at least five yeatrs-if not more. (Male white seienee switcher) Most of my friends are vvorEng 15 to 30 hours a week, mat's why people take longer to graduate here. (Male Asian-American engineehg non-switcher)
X know there are a lot a f p p l e &king less classes, bmause they can%tafeord to go .full-the, (Female white mathematics switcher) I'm morEng 26 hours a weak, but I'm only &king two classes. 1 planned it this way because I need the money. It's bmn a long grind. (Female white enginmring non-switcher) There" s pprobIern when pmple get elosc: to fmishing, they get in trouble bmause they don't have thc money to finish. And they are fore& to leave for a whiIe, or go pa&-time-&ke one class a quarler-that kind of thing. And, all of a sudden, a four-year degree beeomes a seven- or eight-yestr degree., .And if youke not done when they say you have tr, be done, ysuke severely punish&-because yauke not eligible for financial aid-just when you n& it most. W e n you get close to the end is when your resources S&& to run out, and that's whm you can%g& any others, (Male whik ssclence non-switcher)
The time ,spent at work was often at the expense of atcade~cstudy, and the canquences were saanetima reflect& in lower gradt=s: Xt was the mancty, It was hard for me to organk~emyself to work and to ga to school at the same time. Eventualfy, my grades were falling offs and I had to stop, be~auseI couldn't keep them both up tagether, Ikve had good grades reeentIy. But I've taken out a lot of loans. (Male vvhite science switcher) I've put myself through school, I work about 30 hours a week. Sometimes I get a; C! in class instmd of a B bccsuse X have to work, (Male white enginering non-switcher)
Mlwting the n d s of their emplayers cauId sIm make it hard to mwt imprbnt tments such as studying for examinations, or kwping advising appintments: I work a lot since I'm paying out-of-state tuition, And it's hard for me to take off from work to go and see; a professor, They don" ltiice it at work, but f do it sometimes to go to the lab. (Male whitc engineering non-switcher)
Career and Lges~le
21 l
It's difficult if you have an exam, and you have to work the day before. Some mployers will let you off: (Mak Asian-Ame~ane n g i n m k g non-switcher)
The time spent in travefthg to and fmm avrrifabte for shdy:
W&
could also r&we the t i m
Vouke tkd after you afrmdy went to school, and then you%ve gem workyou gol~adrive out to work, and then you gotter drive back, and, and then the next day, youkve got an exam-it" difficult. (Male Asian-American enginwring non-awiteher)
at a g r a t d i d v a n b g e , particularly Students who had to work saw the izl elass-es where there was intense eomptifilon: You get caught in the trap: how are you supposed to be an A student if you're having to work your way through school?, ..I couldn" get enough financial aid, so I was working $0 hours a week, and I took my physies classes one at a time. There" a few rmlly intelligent people in the classes, But there's also a lot of p p l e who get As and Bs mainly bwause they are hard workers, But they don" hhae to w r k . n o s e are the ones I'm eompding against-. It angers me no end that I a t being mwsuredi by the same chteria as them. It was a hurdle I was canshntly battling, And X Bidn" overcome it until. this last serneskr when I bok out mough loans so I didn't have to work at, all.. .It's like swatlowing a very bitter piu to understand that you just have ta gut yourself in that amount of debt to be able to czom~te.(Female black engineering switcher)
Some sadentr; wondered. if faculty reafithat the w d + u t system W=, in effet, a m w s test b i m 4 in favor of sbdents with independent funding. Among those with h a d q w t e hnds, w d i n g out bet@ to seIc=;ctonly those who had the stamina to meet b t h hmvy wonaxnie and i i ~ d e de ~ c A good friend of mine in this major pays for college on her own, Sametimes she geb discouraged. She feels like, "Should X rally be putting myself through this misery when it's me thiat" putting out the ktucks?YIf X was in that posit,ion, I probably wouIdn2 be that strong-wig&. If I don" t a k e k in a chss, I71 take it again. But she can? aaffard &...In the freshman classes, they think they?e w d i n g out the wmk studenthi. But it's some of the students who are paying for coUege on their own theykrr: w d i n p out-people wha say, 'No way am I going to go on doing this. "Female white science non-svvitcber)
S.M.E. degrws were thought pi3.rt.icularfy hard to rmoncile with student employment b m u s e they mde grater 1 time demmds than ather degrws: they had a, more intense curriculum st tment to laboratory time a;nd o k n r q u i r d a higher number af crerfits than other +ors, Students who haid to w r k were c ~ n s w t l yhrcect ts choose bemen a c a d e ~ ec o m ~ t meats and the need for t'mmeial sumival:
X have to work every afiemoon and I can't take a lab class. It's difficult when I have a math class that has a probbm session every afiemaon fmm one ta five. I Just W% dda it. Xf you want to be a s~iencemajor, and if you need a job, it had b-r be an onampus job, I f you work as a waitress, therev@ no way. (Female white nnaaematics non-swikher) Bmause I lost a year of financial aid, I had to work more hours to keep going, I got no help from my family, so I ww t q k g to work 30, 40 hours a wwk and stay in sehool &U-the, But, with that, I just cauldn" k w p up with my courses.. .. (Male white scienm g ~ b h e r )
By the t h e I graduak, E% have to pay baek $15,000, I dtiren't bomow any more, so X have to work. But, on the other hand, you" here to study. ff you go to work, you don't get your problem set done. You are always having to figure out priorities, (Femle white engineering non-switeher) It's the inknsity of enginmfing classes that is almost impssible when you"@ trykg to work, I would say that" probably the rmsan a lot of peaple leave. It even thought about it two weeks ago-if 1 wuEd get out any quicker by gokg g about gain@a master", into computer seience-I was actually th Because the way the master" is set up, you actually have to satisfy less rquiremenb than if you had come through the enginmhg ranks. Maybe I'd be b&ter off, (Female black engineering non-switcherr) That was my dowfall, If you have to work and do enginwring, it's raUy tough. I wrked 25 to 30 hours a wwk. At times, X work4 40 hours. (Male white enginwhng swikher) It w s vefy hard with the Iabs, working full-the,. ,I thi& that would be pretty much it, just time--it r q u M so much t h e , s0 much problem-salving-cabulathns, doing compu&r work, and n d having access to a eornputer syskm other than on campus; having ta run baek and forth,. .And I sat there and ask& myself, "id I really want to put myself through this?' Bwause I had to work. If I wasn" torfing, I eouldn% be in school, (Mate black engineeri.ngswitcher.) Shrdents who paid most a f their o w way &uugh scfiml had less m r g i e for emor than did hose with sholarships or f a d l y assismce. n o s e who work& more hours thm was consistent with g a d mholarsfiip were at w n s m t risk of failing clasms or m g poor gradw. Misses in the choice of classjes, or class failures, had a disproprtionatefy negative effwt upon them bt;cause they could not w i l y afford to repeat classs, The fisk of subswuent failures was exacerbated by the n d to work harder to pay f'or r e p t clasms: It's the Fmanciai aspeet,..Somdhes you have to take classes over because you got a bitd gmde, But you don't have any money to continue, so you drop out for financial rasons for a hile,..All my room-males are out of s~hooX because of financial diffi~ufties,(Male black enginafing switcher)
You miss one course, and you have to go lo summer session. A lot of pmpk can't do summers, I always had to work in the Bummem. (FemiXo: white engkwhg s ~ k h e r ) Far mm@swdenls, the w m m t s t m b of jugglhg time and energy bemm the ds of work and sehoot was a major fwtor in their abmdoment of S.M.E. m ~ o r sA , fevv =me e l m to dropping out of w h o 4 altsgeber: The &&g that m E y got me to s ~ k was h Fmaneial-vefy yesr, tuition goes up at 1-t eight prwnt, and I wm spading aU this money I didn? have. Fblfy, it push4 me out of s-cience, b w u s e I could gradmte with another d e g m faster. It wasn" &the d q a ~ m e nthat t push& me out, it was the syskm. (Male white science s ~ t c h e r ) It came down to this. I had to have the money in order to go to school, but f eouldn? have the monv an8 go to school.. .Well, I n d d the money ss time for school had to be cut back.,.My grades had been suffehng so Xong-not entimly because of the money, but it was a very big famr,,.I worked fulltime, and I wuld owsionally &&@ a n i a t cksti.and register through exknsion school, and just tried to k w going, I kftif X s&ppd eomple&ly, I'd never sliirt up again, male white science s ~ t e k e r ) It's impossible. And, it's an unfortuna~truth that an awful lot af people must do it. ..I was pushing myself at 45 houfs a week, working at several Iittle partt h e jobs, and still had to g& the studying in.... f chitngd my major whm X had b w m e sick wi* mononuelmsis, I also develoH a kidney turnor, and had to have surgey. But a lot of it was stress-indued. (PemaXe black engineering s ~ t e h e r ) Most of the people X know who had fmancial problems couldn't afford to eome to the univemity fulttime, So they had ta pick up an extra jab, cut dawn on the number of classes, and study enginmhg gae-time. It a e s a long time. So they switchd to other majors that were not as intense as engineering, but maybe they had a b a e r chance of gr~duating,(Male Hispanic enginwhng switcher) I've paid my way through everything..,l[ work 20 ta 30 hours a week. And if X don" (get out in May, f h not earning back. (Female whik engineefing switcher) MoWitlzsmding the b t i e f of mme w&te shudents-particularly who had to work fang hours to sushin their education-that students of color were at m unfair advmbge in getthg scbolarsbips, o r other fo it was clear that students of wXor (e;5mialXy black and H i s p d c students) were a c h l l y over-repremntd among tbom whose de~isionto switch was dirwtly related to their hmeid difficultia. It bwame elwr that sbdents of calor from nities wem not only more at risk of switchkg majors, they were, as both Po*r (1990)md R o t b r g (2990)hare rewrted, a l ~ at o gxeater risk than wbik sbdents of dropping out of university altogethex.
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Career and Lfeslyle
Most studenk c o M with the h m c i a l difficulties they encounter4 in ecrmpleting &eir erluation by some ~ x m r of e work md bmawhg. h m s were u ~ v e ~y disl&d f l of the long-km lillnitations they placed an hbre work and lifestyle, heludiag the c b e e to mnry mid haye cEldren, Unwillingmss to five with the w n q u a w s of debt also arffwM prsistenw: My room-mate works to keep him. from debt,. I work too, but I%e also collect& some loans, h d the thought of all that didnt help me stay, (Male white enginmhg shteher) I m a n , I'm manna be paying for eehool fomver. I mean, emotionally, I'm defmitely ready to get out- (Female white enginwring switches) Some are thhking they're gonna have to leave without a degrw. That happens a lot. By the time I get out of law school, I'll probably he $50,000 in debt, (Female white engiolmring switcher)
I" just bacEng up student loan aRer student loan. They9reall going to hit when I g& out of schooI. (Male white enginmrlng non-swikher) I have to push it out of my had: "nother loan. Don" tthnk about it. Just sign it, That" it. Just sign h, "Female white mathematics non-switcher) Fharrciaf problem had other consquences for s u e n t deeisians. Same smdents cham a pafiicular mjor or instiation bwause they were o f f e r 4 frnmciaf hdp. Some shy& in mjors Fs wGch they bad lost interest mther than low a scholarship (for example, from a c a p m t i o n ar R.0,T.C.). The debt burden aecumulaM by those who chose banowing aver employment could aIso have profound consequences for carmr choices:
If you're bornowing less, you have more options about the fields you can go into. If you have a $150,W debt, you can't ga into pGmary care in a rural arw.. .There%a anelation b w w n the p ~ m tag for your dueation and your degre of f r d o m . (Female white sscien~enon-switcher) X'm puEhg myself tiihrough sebol+ntircly with work and student loans, I k e gat five brot-hers and sistem, so it urasn" pssible for my parents to help.. .So switching ta busk~ssredly made sense ta me. I can go straight to work. 6.1*m looking for a job with security 'cause I've got large student loans. I want to get on my fwt-make some money. W e n I've paid my loans off, I'd dike to come back to grad school for an M.B.A. (Male white science switcher)
As we shall discuss in mare detail later, delaying graduate school entry wa;s often a function of the need to pay off undergmduatr: Inans, and b build up finaoi~ialresewes; I have to put myself thmugh schooll. So I'll probably not be going to grad school right aner I graduate, I'U have to take some years ta work and pay off some of these debts, (Female white mathematics switcher)
Career and L;ges~le
215
You build up this loan, and so you have to go out and get a job. Grad school just kn% pssible. And you t k ~ 'l'll , buM up some money; get out from under some of &h debt, ' B u t you wmt to g& m a d & and have a familty some t h e , h 4 it% hard to go have a family while at;Eendihg gmd schoaf, (Male A s i a n - h e r i ~ a nscienm non-swi%her)
To a v a v m r k d degrw, students gmptd the ing to tfiecir own &mation by working. m a t ffiey found hard to accept were the iaadeqmcy, hquit_yaaad umeeamq eaqiexity of the t-ulmcid aid system. They dsa expr~sedmger at what they a w as ptitied and institutional insemithi9 to r w n t incrwes in the pmprtiort of higher education costs which s w a t s have to mwt by working and bomowing, and to the acadennie and carmr consqueaces of Ibis: W a t the hculty don" t e into consideration is that financial aid is going down, so we get less help, and we have to work more haurs to pay for the rising tuition. They are still thinking about how p p l e graduated in four yaps, 10 or 20 ymrs ago. (Male white engineefing non-switcher) A lot of my professors are older white males who were in industry back in the 1960s when Kenneciy said, 'Let's ingo to the moon." .,mey don't t m e from, where I eome from, and they don% see the world the way X do,..Vou know, I'm not siEhg here crying for anphing s p i a l , but they don't know what it's like, (Mak I I b g a n i ~i c g i n w ~ gnon-switcher)
Making it through and paying the bills is very tough ...W a r a senior administrator said last week rally caught our attention-that students ought to stop watchking soap operas, g& off their bum and go out and get jobs-ven though 80 percent of the students at this school aXrady have jobs outside school, I can tell you, that got a Lot of peapIes3biicks up. (Male whib enginmring non-switcher)
I think, if they want more math and science and twhnicaf students, they should be more w-illing to offer funds to them, and allow them to go *rough without havhg to hear s'to~esof, Well, when I was in college, I w a a d through the snow to my s m a d jab to make it,'.,,Xt's just not a possibility these cfays..,f haven" seen any administmtion do anything to help studenb. (Female black e n g h e e h g switcher)
fiablms d t b the kwth of S.M.E. MaCjam Problem with undel.gdute mjcrrs wGeh took more thm four years ta complete f i p r d in on1y 7.6 pemnt of switching decisions, md were mentioned by t 2.Q permat af switches overail, The problem of trying to finish =jars which were &ng longer thm pX @d wem, unders-hbly, of mare caneem to seniors, X 9.8 prwnt of wham mention& difficultiesin this regard. However, this wm a fa~torw ~ c f iaffeted students in some =jars, md in some instihtions, m r e t h a otherr;, Problem with the: more-than-expected length of the degrm were repodd by more curneat and former enginwring mjors than
by &ose in science and mfiemtics. Alhougta this diR@renwis insi@fimt as a fwtw in overnil w i k b g decisiang, it w a mntioned as a wnwm by 37.9 p r m t of e n g i n w ~ miom g ( c o m p d with 27.6 pereeat of m ~ o r in s seienee or maemties), aaid by 28.6 p r m t of all m g k m h g gwitehers (compared with 20.2 p r w n t of wikhem in wimw a d m&emtics), Seniors at t\No of the four public htihttiona had peieuJar difficulties in completing thdr mjom wi& a four-yar t In the largest publie hstiwtian h our sample, this problem was ef acted wi& a high level of bmciaE diffi boa a m n g &khem and S,M,lE,
.
on a part-time baisis, faculty md ad~nistrators fm t h i ~slow paw W= hsufficient hnds b sltend college: in a
The m p t a t i o n t k t a bswlaurwte should, md could, be completd in four y a r s was an hstitutiomi@xphtionh colleges of enginwkrxg. IFjlawever, e n g i n w ~ gmjars quicuy famed (by their a m expfiences, md from those of p r s ) that this was umelistic; Well, the enginm&g schwl passes out the course handout which h y s out what you have to take, and in what squenw, and theyPvegot eveqthing planned e x q t your eimtives, And the only hand-out &ey've got is a four-year pmgram \"via 17 or 18 units a semerster. But I know of very few pespfte who tdce that many-12 is ~ b s e rto what you can actually do. It's s five-yetir degrm for a h o s t everybody-four and a half if you were extremely well. (Male white enginm~ngnon-s~tcher) UnI-s you ean take 18 or 19 e d i t s a semester, you can" ddo it, They stmcture it for &ur yars, but it% s joke, mere" so way you can take five enghc=ehgclasses in one semester. lmpssible. (Male white enginwhng nonswiteher)
Finishiog in four years also depended on success in completing classes in the right
[email protected] four-year time-bble left na rmm for emor in the wlwtion of dasses, aed no possibility of re-sing my class: g one class, you have M a t they didn" tell me was that if you dday in to wait a whob y a r ta tdce it agah. ..That can rally mess you up. They assume you%@going to take this class, folfowd by &at dass-all in logical order-when, semdimes, no matter how mueh you try, you can't t o that. (Male Hispanic enginmhg switcher)
And you can% mess up a skgle class because, if you do, you3e a semester behind, and if it's not an upper-fevet course it may not be offered in summer school,.. M a t they don't bll you is that sometimes a course is only offer4 in
Career and Lfesple the fag, and you don%t i d out untif it%&too late and you" behind, w a l e white f=nginee*g s ~ t ~ h e r )
21 7 akwdy a 9emes.t.er
Anotfier conquenee of the tight schcr;dule wafi that it w e d y redmed the possibility of a broader duational experience:
k was fmetmtkg to look at, how they" set out your whole currieulurn, and you" mrnaybe 10 hours of Ghrat arts for fhe whole the-and &at was to be able to @uab in four y a m , I dirln" th* Uwas giving p p l e a good education. P e m l e whim e n g h w k g switeher) to broadea enginm~ng, They am kfyhirxg ta htmduw hurrumitim mqu and it's a good idea in same ways. But if you mmtion it to most engineers, they" laugh at you,. ,The eu~cufurncan't be complet.ed in four years as it is, (Male Asian-Amerian engineering switcher)
Both eummt md fomer engirnwhg students express& mger at what they as ddibmb trrisrvrwntation of the time it w u l d actually take far mast of them to complete their =jar, Mast enginering mniom had a c a p t d the nmssity sf a five-ymr progmm, but w i s h t they bad k n advisd at the out-set to plan the p m md q u e n c e of tfir;lir clas= in s e c t r b c e with this longer, mare raXistic tim-fmm. may wuld, thus, have avoided both the acade&c prabtetrts era@ by trying to follow official guiddinm that provd umworkabje and the hmcid ~Pimsprovokd by ndiELg m n e y for an extra yar. Had they h o w in dvmee that enghmkg would be a five-ymr degrw, some students rep&& they would have wasider4 mother mjor: @W
I think the administration talks out of both sides of its mouth. It says, "Oh, we have this p r o p m you can take in four yam,' but your freshman engineering advisor warns you, VnIy take 14 or 15 credits because this is your first year, and you won't manage mas.' It's good advice-but it irnmdiately puts you one class behind the official schedule and messes up the squence of aXX your pr+rquisibs, f t h i d they need ta make up their minds, It's officially on paper as a hur-year degm, but only about eight ger~entof us m&e it in that t h e . (Female white mginwfing non-switcher) I knew it was going to be five y a m bwause I'd dked to a 1st of peo;File before; 1 earnmitt& myself. But m s t freshmen come in with (he wrong impmssion. They ought to put it in bold print somewhere that, unless youke M n g 18 to 19 credits a smester, youkrc; going to be here for five yars. (Female whi& enginwhg non-switcher) Qf coune, they lose same ~ p l ine the first year bwause of stretching it to a fxveyar c u ~ c u l u m It% . mainly b w u s e of money-pwple can? afford to stay in school for five years. (Male white enginwring switcher) t elected to change my major because of funding, My finan~ialsituation was getting to the point where I was not gaing to have the time to finish, (Female black engineering swikher)
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If 1% d o w n at the beginning it was going to take five years, I'd have considered something else. (Mate black e n g h w h g switches)
Students understmd the sour- of the covert: five-year e n g i n ~ r i n gdegrw but felt tht? profession should find a way ta r w l v e this problem, rather than leaving shdenb m d their parents ta dwX tvi* the e a n q u e n w of avoiding it: fn order for the school to be a e c d i t d , it has to be a four-ymr program. So they try to cram evemhislg hb the four yesjrrs, And, on paper, it looks possible-if evePyone takes this m 1 f;igorous schedule with 18 hours a semester, and almost no elmlives. Once they have the awrdihtion an the basis of a schdule that looks do-able on gaper, they can unofficially encourage you take it a little slower. That way they look good, But what about the chaos it m&es for us? And what about our folks who were led to expect they were paying for a four-ymr degree? (Malie white engineering switcher)
Students who did d
e it in h u r years a q u i r d fegmdary status:
We vverejust &king about one person who made it in four ymrs, without wen going to summer school-%at's remarkable, (Male white enginmring nonswitcher)
From a focus group of women enginering wniorsf know same pmple who U e ta punish themselves: they get done in four years aARP a h g 21 unit quarters just of mginwring classes.
Yeah--X know sornwne who did it. From junior year, she took four Double E classes every quafler until she gmduatexl.
Cod!
She probably didn? see the sun rise 'til she was done,
We akecf swdents what were the conditions under which a shdent eoutd be one
of those who did complete m enginwlr.ing m j o r in four ymrs, Their m s w r s were, it could be done if: you were exceptiorjlnlly bright; you were very wellprepared by your high schaol, and had alI your pre-rquisites on entry; your parents were paying all, a r most, of the costs, and you did not have to work; aged to take the r q u i r d 18 to 20 credit hours each semester; you did everything in sequence, a d did not have to re-take a single elms; you lived ei:ither on, or very close, to campus, In s~ienceand mathemtics mjors, same students also had problems in completing their m j o r s in four y a r s , but the r w o n s far their and were RQC SO cfearly and universaliy a s m i a M with the their mjors, Some sience md =themties -ion took 10 se: their majors demmded a larger number of erexjits; they experienceci difficulties with weed-out elmm, and h d to retake bwmeof t h m ; they sought a broader eduation than was allow& fox in their diseipfine, aad
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ities or social scienms not allowed for in the official took cfassm in the hu program. n o s e studenls whose problem with the &ra time fequirttci to graduate were predominantly financial, faced a set of related difficulties. First, the idea &at students who work hard are supposed to be able to finish any undergraduate degrw in four ywrs is a strongly-root& n o m among parents: My father" pqying for college, but he said, 'Four y a r s is all I" (Male white enginmring svvitcher)
paying for. "
My dad's only paying for four y a r s , and if I can%get done in that time, that's it. Sa that was a major consideration in switching majors. How C O U I ~ I pay far an a t r a y a r ? X n d e d to get out. (Female white science switcher)
Those with farhers (sic) in enginearing faced the s p i a l difficulty of getting their pilrent to accept that the modem engineering cuxriculum demands mastery of more a c a d e ~ content c than was demmdd of fomer enginering majors: Do I think an engineering degrw's fasitale in four years? Gad, no! You would just. kill yourself trying to do the 18 credits-unless you were exwptionally @lent&. The problem is my dad thinks it's feasible, btlcause he did it in four. But he got a lot of credits dropped because he was in the sewices. We figurd out the erdits he took, and the ones X n & d to get out-$28-and his were a whole lot less, And then there's just more to know for this generation of engintsers, But don't ever tell him that! (Female white enginwring nonswitcher)
, both of pmrs m d of the wider co unity, also placed pressure on those who rwli& that completing their S.M.E. major would rquire mom than four years: They lmve bmause they can't afford another ymr, taut also be~ausethey think other p p l e &l1 fee1 that theyke deficient beeause they took five years instad af four. (Female black enginering nan-switcher) They don't acknowledge that it actually takes five years. I den%know why, But there" dehitety a stigma to admitting it. (Male white engineering switcher)
The four-year tradition is also refieeted in the fiMncial-aid system, which sbdents found made no allowanws for the extra time which many S,M.E. m j o m need tn graduate. Thus, the period just prior to graduatim, whm students R& to focus exeltl~iveIyon their acadedc work, was the time when they were most likely to face m ecanonn;iccrisis which was unaehowledgd and unrelievd by the finmeial-aid system: Afler four, four and a half, yeam, youke not eligible for financial aid any more, and there" a lot of problems that come just from that. (Male white engineering non-switcher)
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'This is the v e q fist semmter I've b a n eligible for financial aid, and it's salso my last, bmause I'm gonna go over the crdit limit. (Male white science nonskteher) They will only give you work study for four yars. (Male Hispanic enginwring switcher) I tktought it would Lde four years, untif X got into it and r a E d it wasn't passible, I have to pay out-of-skk tuition, so ta do the extra y a r is e s ~ i a l l y hard. (Male white enginwhg non-switcher)
We mked mniors how they had mped with the problem of lengthy -jars, and what they thought w u l d ~ t i g s t ethe problem they had erteounterd. Estabfisbg a syskm of fmmciall supprt far S.M.E, seniors was consider& paramount: There should be more sehohrships for setniors who need two y a m to do their h missing a number of spmial courses senior-level speciabmtions. As it is, E that X h o w Ih going to n d once I get out there. I didn" have analogs, or any pawer courses above the junior level. And that" two whole branches of enginwrinp I know I'll n d . And one of the biggest problems fight now is fmdin-ngenginwrs to build p w e r supplies fair c-ontputerg. I wish X could stay anolher semeskr, but I daren? L e the time, and I don%have the money. (Male white enginmring non-s~tcher)
Engineering sekars expresd their preference for an official four- to five-year degrw, often in strong te X would have prefemd an official fivttryar program that ;t could have stuck to rather &an this stumbling on the tmth by failing courses l didn't n& to fail, and havhg to re-take things, which Ienghens it even more, (Female white engineehng non-svvitcher)
It would just be a better dueation if it were five y a r s , I mmn, why can't they just say, 'This is our e u ~ c u l u mand , it takes five ymrs'+r even four and a half! I know a lot of p p l e who take four and a half, and they come out happier, and with Q a e r grades. (Male white science non-switcher)
M a b mginee~nga five ymr program-officially-ight off the hat. It% what it's turn& into a n p a y , There are a few very impressive pmple who rnilke it in four-there are always the exceptions-but it's more: sensible to plan on five. (Male hian-American e n g i n m ~ gnon-switcher)
'They calf4 for the ending of what they saw as rmisrepremntrdtiorrof the nature of f i e major ta students and their parenb, and of "victim-blanring3in faulty explanations of why strtdents have difficulty in kmping up with the official timetable: The cisLalog is fmudulent. Once yau get here, they let: you in an the swmt. X guess nowadays more caIEeges are stafling to tell you it's five y a r s ; some have slafid two-plus-thrw ymr programs-or even six years with a maskr's
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at the a d , The rest need to g& with it and slop foohg tfiemseIves---and us. (Female white mginw&g non-akt~her) They should g& honest abut it. Uationdb, mam &an half the enghwra stay more &an four y a m . They h o w h t . So why don%they advertise it the way it is? They n d to f a ~ up e to Q, and not make US take the hat. (Male whi& en@w&g non-s~tchw;) The rally mkemble h h g about not t e b g you the tmtfi upfront, is that you g h a t it" yyor hult-&at you" to blame for not studying h r d enough-&at enghmm have to do eveqhing at the daublc-and that eveqbody can do it but you, BuUirrhit! But thsyke lost a ton of p p l e before those of us h a t are left get smart. You have to learn to ignore that stuff; pace yaursdf; and don't let anyone &H you &ere% aayaing w h ~ z yin &king a bit longer, (Male white enginwhng non-switcher)
Bath enghwkg and scienc~sniors descriM how, a h r trying to keep up with, a p a x m d to& to the detdment of a solid uaders-ding of the work, and always fwfing t m s ta a p p m i a k the implications of what they w ~ r e ta a mare m w u r d time-Fmme. As a mtter of dabg, they bad shi mmivail, md in o the most out af their education, they a d v i d work at a t m ~;1ten= pace: How, if I was eoming in fresh, and know what I know now about school.. .I'd sky around 14 or 15 e d i b . ,.You learn so much more by &fin& 15 hours h n 18. (Male Hispanic .enghwhg non-&tcher) Five years ig a mueh b&er plan. Eke m& a lot of enginwrs at work, and very few of them did it h four, It's betkr to be =&tic and m&e the most of your t h e here. (Mak white enghahg non-swikher) Et% s aaaer of mhhining yaur smity-slowing d a m a bit, going lan extra semester if you n d to, and g ~ h out g with a decent C5,P.A. (Male white science non-switeher) This is my &&hymr, I did some extm thin@ which I enjoy&, And X watch& my f ~ e n d swho were stmggEmg all through their last semester doing inkmiews, and &ng 17 hours, and not doing weIf, and hathg life. I dwided it was mote sensible; to slow down and take it a81 in. I'm glad that I did it that way. (Male white mathemaics non-s~teher)
I used to think only a Bdce or a goof-aff took five ymrs-&at somehow I'd fa2d. But I ' Y ~lmmd a lat OF other things-like when I've been to conferences, or doing co-ops out there in the working situation. I mwn, you have to be able to undersand the stntctuml system, bt= able to applly what you know, understand the economies of the prqjmt, and be able to work with the p p l e around you. You need to take the time to think about these things. (Female white enginwhg non-switehw)
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Rayiq the S y s t m The question of switching mjors in order ta gain some c a m r sldvantage was m issue for a small numlaer of stdenb. It was most c
by science and mtherndics switcbers (12.0 prcent af cansideration, md 9.8 p r w n t r in their decision to switch). We thli~k it is of interwt, nevertheless, it reffwb one extreme of a highly cation, which m y b growing among students md their parents. By this approach, graduating with g d grades and a high C.P.A. is the student's main objaetive. If the struchrct or demands of ft. particular m j o r make it difficult to achieve that goal, it w k e s sense to switch to a major with better prospects, This is, in large part, wonomic realism. Sludenls and their parents undersbd that prospective employers rely hmvily on academic scores: f am looking to get a goad job with computer firm. My goat was to graduate with, at I a s t a 3.25 G.P.A., and il w s concern& about taking any more classes which th~mtcne8that. (Male white science switcher) The jab market" very rough, and there's no point in taking the major unless youke getting at least a 3.3. (Male white enginwring switcher)
My room-mate w s doing okay in civil engineering. She was ge#ing Bs and CS like the rest of us. But she deeided to switch into liberal arts beeaiuse af the grades. She was Looking far a e m h&. (Female white engineering nonswiteher)
I have s 3.44, and I really need a 3.5. And with math that wouldn't have been possible. I've gotten an A in every monomics class so far. (Mate white mathematics switcher)
Some smdents whose bitecalaurmte degrm was only the first sbge in an education which induded a post-graduate professictnai degree such as taw, mdicinct or business, left their S,M.E, mjor because getting into one of the 'better' schools requirul a more competitiveG.P.A. than sezmul possible if they remind: I went into public plicy,..l was frustratd baause it had been a long time since f 'ci gotten an A-f kept gdting these E3 +s-and I thought, 'l'm nat gonna get in& law school with these grades." even have a C on my transcript from. phy Y ics. (Female Asian-American e n g i n w ~ n gswitcher)
was thinking, T h i s isn't gganna work with my original plan. I h nnevcr gonna gel into a business sehool if E'm gganna d s so p a r t y , ' lm a n , it" okay if I just want& to be an engineer, but that was never my original intenfiljn. So it didn't make sense to me to keep going. (Femab Asian-American engineering switcher)
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I" glad I'm not majoring in biology any more, especially as I want to go to med school.. .Anpay, there's so many biology majors applying to med schooI, it mans you have to rally distinguish yourself in that field to sknd out from the p&. If you are an Ame~eanStudies or English major, it gives a different focus, and makes you look Wiee as good, (Female white science switcher)
The perceived. neeasity of witching tnajors as a way to cope with a system w ~ e hencoumgm an m - f w u s on grades was widely accept4 by other sbdents who were not facing this dile
A lot of pmmeds Iavc bmause rfiings are just too hard, and they have La keep their C.P.A. high. A lot of them go into business or histoq. They have to get through srganic, but once theyke done that, they can get nut. But sec=,they've gotta boost their C.P.A, to get in. They've gaU1? do something they can ace. (Male white science non-switcher) If you wanna go to an fvy League med school, you can't be a chemistry major. Your chances of keeping a 4.0arc;just not good enough, (Male white science non-switcher) I mean, if I want& to get into the big-boy n w a r k , I would definitely move real quick to get my C.P.A. up-if I had to try to get into graduate school, ar da anything that had a XiEle bit more satus or prestige attached to it, (F2emale white mathematics switcher)
However, xtme wniors who had witnessed the move into non-S.M.E. m j o r s of f a m e r class-mtw concern& a b u t getting into rxrdieal school also express& disquiet about:the implie;ztions this might have for the qwlity of future doctors: I mwn, there" as many pre-me8s in socioiagy and English as there are in biology. They take the bare minimum-maybe three biology, three chemistry, two physics, and two rnath, and that" it-they move...My roam-mate" one of them. He's got accepted into a few places. And I know he just doesn" want to deal with the biology-you know, the h b work every day ...I know it's a good idea for doctors to have a broader base, but I just wonder whether they know enough of the science they are going to need. (Male white science nonswitcher) e n t d throughout our account on indications that to view their ducatl'on as a , m investment, or a business risk md have discus& the rofe of pragmatism and materialism in the choice of a major. In d w r i h i n g faculty teaching and assessment practices, we noted shrdent criticisms often iinclude a. value-far-money cornpent: They'm apparently not here to teach. Theyke here to do research. And I'm paying a $1000 a year to come here, and I've got tachers who are incompetent-I got six percent on one physics exam. And that was a B. l[t%outrageous. (Male white engineeFing switcher)
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h our diswsioni a culbre, we deseriM the stmtegia which sbdats & v m M e h tbe mjor, or get the &t out of their hstibtion. Thus, ce aF esrmr goals is but on tion of m btmmentstf oriexlihtion vvEzicfr we found to b wi sbdents. In the m u m of disussions a b u t a r m r plas, we lesmed something a b u t the considwations which proaylt m ~ a m ei&er to choose, or to reject, pradwte =hmI. Given cunent wnwrng abut ( 3 s by non-foreip S.M,E, sWents, we though of students' prwptions a b u t the wsts and bnefits of grsduate scb h a n g S.M. E. serliors, 12.5 p a n t had dwided to go to graduate;sehmt , or to u n d e d e a post-gradwte prafmsional degrw; a fuHher 3.3 germnt &ought they nnight do so after a br&; and 17.1 percent who thought ti3e;r were suWiciexltfy quaXifiad to be &wept& at gradwte =hoot, h& de~iderlagainst, a vexy sinnilar proportion (12.0%) application, Amng S.M.E. witch-, h t e n d d to enter gradmb s h m l or u n d e d e . a prsfessional degrm, dewitr;the di hift af =jars. ms u n d e r m r a our hypothesis that m swdenfcs t a v e S.M.E. mjors in suficient numbers to a cause of concern. case was that of enginmhg seniors, whom strong prwtical it less liicdy that they wauld follow a ramrch md t w c b g carmr track, E n g h m k g s b d e ~ t sshow& a more mhdalist orienhtion tfiaxl most science md mtfiemtics =jars md tended to v i m actldernic carmrs as o f f e h g a poor rebm on their ebumtional hvmtment: I th* my idm of mgkwhng is geaing the hands-on vvork, You design at a QraRingtsbb, on a G.A.D., or watch a bujfding go up, maer than hching ehsses and stuff, (Male white enginmhg non-swibher) I thhk mast p p l e sm it as a lot man= work going b gmd sehool, when you can go out and get rr job with a company right away, and probably m&e as mueh as a new professor fight fmrn the start. And them isn't r 3 t5 much prestige in being a university enginwr as there is in workjng for a big copration. (Male white enginmhng non-switeher)
Some of the engineering s ~ o r who s had decided to pursue a mster" or doetoral program in engineering did sa to hHher their Gfrances of a jab at a hjgher l w d , or in a specialized area of industry rather than a career in resareb or m c ~ n g : I guess my exphenms in work have I d me to go on to grad sehool. I want to move into materiab, I have a good idea af what I want to do, and I'm wilting to gut in the extm effort to get into that field. I've mently been allring to a w m a n professor, and she" bbeen encouraging me to go on for a Ph.D.,
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but I'm preEy set on a master". You can be over-qualified with a Ph.D. No one w a hire you if you get too specialized, (Female white enginering nonswiteher) Very few of the gmd students I work I;u_ithwant to teach, They are looking to go out into g ~ v a t industry e at a mars: s p i a l i z d level, (Male white enginwrk g non-switcher)
I feel there" sot the reward, Sate institutions cannot provide the: ftnan~ial fundhg to pay eomwitively like the pfivate mark&, They have to rm'Lly want to do the; sserr;rch to stay bwausre the hancial rewards with a higher d e g m in industry are: so mueh g w k r , (Female white e n g b w h g non-switcher) However, some enginmrirxg seniors were considering a higher degree for a more b s i c mson. They had come to s u s p s t that the traditional promise of engineering as s four-ymr m~otwith a well-paying job at the end OF it was an out-&ted notion: You can"t get a real c;-nginw&g job any more without a master" degree=and a lot of experience. mat" something they don't tell you until senior seminar. AU of a sudden, they p p it on you that, sooner or later, youkce gonna have to cane back far a masbr" degrm. Without it, you don%ever get to be a projeet manager. You md up a&ing as a technician. You can make a living, but. anyone who's gonm a w l , they have to go on, (Male white enginwfing non-switcher) X don't want to get shut out of a carwr, bwituse, right now, jobs in chemical enginmring are available. And same of the things they are doing ace rally inkresting, innovative, and exciting, and E sort of w n t to participate in that. But, then you thid, God, 1% better ga to grad school now, "cause then I mi&t never get a job. "verybody k going to have a bachelor" one of these days. (Female white enginering non-swiwher)
h a d e p r m d =onomy, they w a n d e r 4 whether thwe would be sufficient jobs for all those graduiating with a baccalaurate in enginaring: I t.hM there's a Ifot of pmple who are beginning to get interested baause it's not a good market right now. I m a n , they might as we11 try a graduate school, and delay their entrance into the mark&, (Male white enginmring nonswitcher) mew conicems were not, however, widety discus& and only four of the S.M.E. mniors who had d e e i d d to go to graduate shoo1 (or who were ealzsidebg it as a frrare option) were enginmrs. For science and mathemtics majors, the issues were more complex. On the one hmd, seniors co only exgrwsed fwling ' b u m d - ~ u t 'affer completing the bacwlaurmte. As indicatd mrlier, the carwr decisions of m n y S.M.E. seniors were also sha@ by their accumulaterf debt burden:
It's got a lot tn, do with f w h g burned out when you finally finish what is ofken now a five-year undergraduatedegrw-stnrggiing through an over-load4 c u ~ c u l u m ,and payitlg your own way tkrrou& at the same time, with no proper social life, and always short of sleep, And then, there" aE of the loans you have la repay, Crad school is just too much to ask of us. (Male whit-e mathematics non-switcher) W y don" t want to go to grad school? Monq! Either money to do it, or the lack of money at the end, Xn your uppr-division classes, you get to mmt a lot of grad students, and you see haw hard they ke work&, and the pitance that they get. I need to w r k for a c o r n p y and make a rwsonable living a h r all the costs of this degree. I've got loans to pay off. I've got to make some money now. (Female whib science non-switcher)
Seniors also expressed doubts af the kind discuss4 at the begiming of this chapter about the context a d namre af resaceh work, and the lifestyle which an ;jleade~ecarer connoted for them: I know I can cut it in grad school. I could b a t the grad students they've got here-I know, because X take classes with them. But you look at those professors who come in and work 70 hours a week. And then your working conditions are honJbIe, In a chem lab, you Ye exposeh to toxins every day, Or you're stuck with a compubr. Sa if you're a people person at all, forget grad school. (Male white seience non-switcher) Even if they get their graduate degrm, there's ymrs and y a r s to be spent worEng as an undemtudy to somebody else before they can get to do their own research. (Male white science switcher)
Their rejwtisn af ~ w t ofs the a c a d e ~ clife w r e also rooW in their o w rmr=arc.ehe x p e ~ m e e : Maybe it's a bad thing having so much research experience, bmztuse I ralizc haw cut-throat it all is-particularly in fly genaics, which is what I work on. X just felt it wasn't appwling any more. And there's no funding for academic positions. (Female white science non-swibher)
E've been working in physics since I was; a senior in high school, including every summer. And I"m sick of the politics-you know, you only present thwries if your boss Iikes them. You write papers and your boss gets credit for them. And you have b justify your research to some government official and tell him why it's valuable, even though you haven" done it yd. It doesn't square with my idms of what research should be. 1'11 go back eventually, but f need a br& fight now. (Female white science non-switcher)
Bmpite encouragement by their faculty to apply to gradwte school, some seniors bad decidd to m k work in a non-acade~ceontmt: I've gotten a sales job. X'm all luck& up at the lab, and I'm ggonna leave and do that and get on my own ground for a while, and try to get away from the
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science &Etism. Mthough I didn't hithlly a~ of a carmr with a company Eike this, the o w e u n i t y h s rally turn& my chinbg around, a d I'm very excitd to ttfiu about w o r h g for a big international, So I stop* the research, s e e d vo1r;mePing and doing things that way instad of shying in science. (Mab white science non-s~tcher)
A. few s&ors thought they ~ g b pts t p a e g r d u t e entq until they bad saved same money or tmtd out the job- mrket: I'm going tio graduate in Dwexnber, but 1% wait until next fall to go-unless I f i d a g a d job manwhile. Othewise, X n d to make some money for gmd school. (Female white science non-s~kher) 1 used to be under the impression that e v q o n e want& to go ta grad school-now, I'm not sure, I'm practically the only person in my group of
friends that" intending to go next yeair. Most of them are going to apply the ymr after next. (Male white science non-switcher) I've spent a tot of money eoming here, and a lot of it has been my own personal money-]: m a n , I've fiad ta work a lot. And, if I'm not geting a rdum on my investment in the job I get, say, after a ymr ar two at most, wen, l would prabably consider gmd school. (Male white scienw nonswitcher)
On the other hand, m a y wilence md mathemtics mniars expressd the concern that some fam of qwlification byond the bamlaurate level was increasingly necesgary in order to swure rel~vmt,interesting or rasonably well-paid work: Oh, I never question& that I was going to g& an advance8 degr=. f mean, a bachelor" deegrw doesn" get you very far in the world these days. (Fernalie Asian-Ameriean science non-switcher) A biologist isn't going to make any money, even when you finafIy get the Ph.D,X mmn, you have Eo laugh, or you'd cry, it" sso ironic. But what" tthe choice? if you come out as an undergraduate biologist or chemist, you czm't do anything. You can be a Whnioian. (Female white seience non-switcher) In physics, the only p r a s p t of employment is after grad school,..The p p l e with bachelor's in physics aren't going to &&me,but if you want a good job, you need a Ph.D. There's nn two w y s about it. (Mate white seience nanswitcher)
Unlike enginwrs, some of whom saw pmctical merit in a ter" degrm, mast science aod mthexnstics seniors who chase a graduate degrw saw it ilc; the onfy viable, non-professional, higher degrw option available to them: There really aren't any jobs for physicists without a Ph.D., unless you want to t a ~ hin high sehaol, which is rm1Iy look& down on. So teaching undergraduates is the price that you have Is pay for being in science, (Male white science non-switcher)
With a nnaskr" degrw in mathematics and 60 cents of change, you can get a Coke out of most machines. merevsnot much you can do unless you go all the w y , (Male white scienee non-switcher)
In the later intemiews, we n o w am wross all S.M.E. mjors were &ginning ts consider gmdwte s h w l as a way of ddaying entrmce into a depress& job mrket: I h o w a for of p p l e who t h s n g of going on to gmd school who wukdn%twessady hawe gone athe&=-b m k e themselves more hireable, Afsa post~nementis a big &kg- F man, hopfirlly the wonorny will turn around in however many years it tskes yyo to get your next degrw, (Female white wienee: non-switcher) I've been thinking about it-depending on how the job market is-keausc I don" want to find myself doing nothing. At Imst, if Ism going to schoat, I can do sam&hing, (Male white mathematics non-switcher)
Same conwm has k n e x p r e s d in r m n t years that the proporlion of foreign. graduate sadeats in. S,M.IE. diwiplines has i n e r a d to a b u t 25 wr~enit,while the proprtion of Am&cm-borr? g d a b sbdents in these mjors h a fallen. Such emam should, perhaps, be temper4 by the obsewation that for&@ sbdents also constitute a lajrge proprtion of non-S .M.E. graduate =h061 entmts (for exampls, 32 prcent in sociology),2 and their presence in gradmb and professional schools is a traditional feaeutre of university life in all western countfies. Hawever, in so far this issue is prceived as a problem, our data suggest that, the desire to enter gmdwte schaols ermng graduating S.M.E. s e ~ o r is s likely to incrme, rather than to diminish, during a pehod of restricted job opportunities for S.M.E. bawl~lfauraks.The w i n obstaelrss to graduate g h m l entry are clearly econoraie, The be;& chmw of in@reasingthe proprtion of S.M. E, wniors who apply to g&w& school wauld be to ddress whom burden of work and debt is the issue of b m c i a l aid for un the strongest deterneat to their gmdmte sefZooI ambitions. mroughout this chapter, we have documented a tension for S.M,E. undergraduates beween their widely-expressed desire for interesting work that is in balm= with other i m p aspeicts of &eir lives, and the difficulties they exprience in achieving these s. Carwrs within enginwhg and the sciences se they are thought likely to be unfulfilling, to lack wrthwKle purpose, and to limit the possibilityof full participation in family and social life. Some, though by no m m s all, students"r w o n s for beli a satisFying earer and liktyle within the seisnm were set of stereotypes a b u t the work contexts one could expect in professional science and engineeringjobs, and about the kind of person one must become to do them. m e w beliefs are imp0 t in their consequenct=s, espmially as little
Career
Lfesyk
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is done to r e p l m &em with a m r e aecumb r e p r ~ n h t i o n From . their l i r n i u canact with S,M,E, fwuity md with field pmfmsianals, under-clmsmen draw enough data in wpprt of tha popular my&ology to ensure its wntinubg p w e r to diwumge pnisbnce, a i m d e f i M by most s w d e n ~(whethier they switch& stic a d lau&bXe. They wmt inermthg work with vafud ad-prducgs j;xz collegid Wthgs, md in the =h, v d u d &W a t t h b u ~as much, or m r e , thm mterials rewards. Many of thosc? who switch4 w m t d to ioeorpofate their howledge of scienw inb in ather fidds. They mw m i a l as we11 as p m m l value in this, Appraximbly one-fieh of both wikhers a d non-switchers exprmsd the desire ta teach (whether at Wo-yar or four-year institutions, or in pre+ollege edmtioxl), The dissipation of t b s e mpimtions to 6,6 p r m n t among non-switchem was causd by the f?Enm~ial difficulties involved in fu&her t m i ~ n g ,md by d i r ~ discouragement t from S.M.E. faculty, f a ~ l afld y fiends, We count this 108s of graduab science m d mthemties t a c h ~ mars one of the most ~ f i o u negative s findings of this study, By eontmt, the propdion of sbdients who leave S.M.E. mjors for &tmmmtal or m b ~ a l i srtw o n s is law (less thm 10 perc~nt),A much higher proprlion (one-fiw of all nan-swikhers 1 prcent of all switchers) md low extrinsi~rewards stmggled with e;xpecf8tians of li&ttsd job f'sllowing p d u t i a n . Them mnmms for one-qua*x af all sbdents by h m e i a t difficulties aad far one-fieh of all seniors by related problem with the length of their mjors. In a s i a t i o a where lws than one-ard of all sbdenh rweivd m y scholamkp funds, WO-thirdshad smdent lams, half paid mm@of their a w whml md living expnses, a d the average number of e q l o y d hours W= IS p r wmk (rising to 20 to 45 hours among students in state htitutions), we obmmed growing fiameial dis-incentives ta ~nroIEor conthue in the sciences* Although the desire to go on to graduate (or prafessional) shoo1 ww still well-suppodd (approximately 12.5 perwnt for S.M.E. smiors, md 12.0 pereent far switches), the "burn-out" of coqleting lengthy mjors reprttr;d by seniors and their large debt burdens were strong disixlmtivm, h inerwe n o t 4 in the a p p l of mster" degrws W= r w t d in coneems a b u t job avaifabitity and s h i d i n g o p p a n i t i e s for carmr advmce m n t in a troubld wonorxly. The stresses of paying one" s a y through shoo1 in a period of wcalating tuition md living casts (mpwially housing) md declining publie and f a ~ l ykaneiaf suppsft For undergradwte ducation, " eonthbutie both t student consumerism md (as we shall discuss in Chapter Q) to a1 ternions on campuses,
230
Career a& Lfessryltl
1. We found the preference for an alternative ar semiee mrwr (including mchiog) most eommanf_ymentioned at the most prestigious, highly-selmt;ive institution, where it; a p ~ r to d be promotd by faculty and by the earnpus cullurn. 2.
Stcevmson, Robert J , 1994, Mers:do ail the saeiologists:come fmm? Footnotes, 21
(9): 11-12.
Issues of Gender Tables 5.1 and 5.2 podmy diffarenms bewmn the m l e and female students in our sample in terns of student canwms representd in Table 1.6 @f,, Chapter 1). 'This pair af kbles should be read with the ~ a v athat t more is hvolvc=d.in the ways that young m m a d women inbvret their experiences in S,M.E, classes-md the cmmuenees o f those differenms-than is represent d in these n u m e ~ su c es, The m i n p u p s of this chapter will be to explore what t h w differences m-, what elm is involvd, how these differences m y be explaind, md what students find useful in overcoming gender-relatd problem. We begin with a su ry of what is hewn a b u t g i r l s b d women's padicipation in seience md mthemtics, and of atbmpts to explain, why the wtnerability of w o m n to lmving S.M.E. -jars grwtfy exc&s that of men,
11is rwanable to e x p t that girls"re+ollege
experiencm in science; md mthemties wiU have c o n q u w w s for their subquent experie-llces as undergradmte or gmduate women (Bker, 1990). From work which explores the process- wbch encaumge or i d b i t the development of interest and m r e r aspirations in these fields, md of s ~ d e n & ~ o n f i d e n cine their ability to u n d e d e them, W have gained some insight into the subtle deterrents to active participation in mthamtics a d science among pre-college girls. Much of this w r k has f w u d on o b ~ m e c ldisparities in classroom interaction, Boys consistently receive more attention, praise, crlticial f d b a c k md mppd for asmrtive ibehavior, The laming exper;ienms of girls are more ding and less exprientiat-even in all-girlsbchoois (Jones & Weatfey, 1990; Kahle, 1990; Tobin & Garrtett, 1989; Morse & Mandley, 1985). Differential expectations for boys and girls which are exhibit& by mthematics and s~ieocea c h e m have also bwn document& (Kahle, f 990). The overall effwt is zt generalid lowering of girls' confidence in their mthematical
TMLE 5.1 "The b b l e m Ic&erg: P m a l e Studenb," Facars Contributhg to S ~ k h i n gDwbians of Female Students, All Gonwms af Female S~tchers,of Non$*&hem &nd of M
Fmmr in switching &&@m
(S1
Ail A& nonA& swUlftehers h ~ ~ * t c" h ~ m 8-W cornem
fsj
cowem
"
coneem
fffftl
No&.M.E. major offers better educationlmm inem& Lack ofilonrr af inbred in S.N.E.: @mmedOR $ciencen Rejection of S.M.l.3, caF-eet.8 and P w r mching by S.M.B. faculty h d a q u a b advising or help with a c a k d c pmblemrt Cu&cu$urn overlwd, fast pace ovemhelxning S.M.E. c a m r olptiodwarde fe& not w o h eRa& to get d.egme ShiA, to mam a p v l i n g nonS.M.B, c a m r q a a n Discaumgedllostconfideme due ta Itow gm&# in early yeam Camepmat difficulties with one or m m S.M.E.wrbject(s) hdequaw high shw1 pepamtion in subjeetslmdy sGllrt R a m a s for choice of S,M.E, m j o r prove iwpprnpfiatn: Firramiaf pmblem of completing s.M.a, m j o a Prefer &aching appwch in nonS.M.E. coume Diseavery of aptiwdei far nonS.N.E.wbject Lack of peer smdy g m p mpport Uneww&d 1enH of S .M.B. degree: m m than four years MomXe u n d e h n d by cowetitive S.M.E. culture Switching as m a n s to career gm[: system playin-f! t s w a g e difficuLieswith fomign faculty a r T.A.9 Pmr tzaching, lab, or recitation guppot.t by T.A.8 k r Pmbfem mlated to class a Poor lablcomputer lab facilities *Issue mised by non-witchera inwading to move into non-S.M.E. field following gmduation.
TmLE 5.2 "The:Pmblem Iderg: Male: Studenb." Factors Contdbutkg to Switching Dwisions of Male Studenb, All Concerns of Male Switchem, of Non-Switchers and of AB Male Stud=&,
Fac&r in swtchl~g &&@m
@l
All
All
All non-
swWI~chers' sw'fckm" cowem concern
S
#
concern
(4%)
Lack oflloss of inkrest ;in S.M.E.: "mmed off aienee" Cu&cuium wedoad, f a ~pace t ovemhetming Pmr teaching by S.M.E.. faculty S.M.E. career o~tionsJmwanXs felt ROt WO& effort to get degree Nctn-S.M.E. m j o r oflers bewr dueaGoN'mom inbn?&. Shift ta m m appealing mnS.M,E, e a w r option X)iseouragdftosltconfidencedue to low gmdes in early ymm Mofale u n d e d n d by coqeggve S.M.E. culture FinawkX pmbbms of coqleting S.M.E.-jars Inadquak advising or help with acrrcte&c pmblems Rejection of 3,M.B. eareem and arnwiated lifestyles Lwck of peer m d y g;mp supporr b d q ~ a t hi& e s h w i prepamtion in mbjwtslsmdy skills Reawns for choice of S,M,B, =jar p m imppqriab Zlmxpected fen& of S.M.B. degree: m m than four years Switching as m m to career gwl: system playing Uliscoveq of aptintde for nonS,NI.lE. subject Goncepnral difficulties with one or mom S.M.B. subject(s) P=br &aching appmch in nonS.M.E. coums b n p a g e dimcufties with fo*ign faculty or T,A,rs Poor teaching, lab, or reeiadon supgo&by T.A,s hoblerne mlated ta class s i m Pmr lablcomputer lab facititiecr *Issue mised by non-switchers intending to move into non-S.M.E. field fsltawing graduation.
abilitim (Eccles et al., 1982; Brophy , 1985; Sadker &t Sadker, 1985). Elements of gender-hmd wcialiation wkich originate in the social milieu beyond school also tend to mt girls up for hilure in the comptitive ethos of science, They imlwde: a preference among girls far ewpemtive lmming strategiw (KaMe, 1990; Koehfer, 1990; kcles, 1989; Jobson & Johmn, 1987; Peterson &k Fernem, 1985; Smil, 1985); and a tendency for girls ( a d their taacbers) to =themtics to effort, but failure to lack of ability, while the 99Q);j a d s e ~ o u sdoubh about the value of g i r l s k G suf-zjeets-daub& engender4 by sexrole stereotyphg wKeh is add h@ school md reinforcd there (KahXe &. Remie, 1993; Mayer & Koehler, 1990; Myte, 1986). The consquences of these prwesses are dimmable by ninth grade, though phor to this, girls and boys arc: almost identical in mthemtics and science achievement. merm&er, girls and boys incrasingly diverge, both in the nurnbr of science rrnd mathemties etasses they bke (especially in advanceri mthemtce in these subjects, (For a ics md physics) and in their aademic perfo review of this literature, see m i t e , 1992.) The cansquences are also clear in the low ratios of women-to-men among college freshmen irtdicating an intention to major in science and engheering-five or men to one w o m n in e n g h w ~ n g ,md two or men to one vvo in the sciences (College Board, 1988; Dey, Astin & Kom, 1991). De women's generalid and eulturalty-reinforcd low levd of confxdmce in their iibility to 'do math" (Tobim, 1993a), the proportions of women and men who declare m intention to enta mthemtics mjors are s i ~ l a rWomen . are in a slight maj&ty among entrats to the life seiencw-where the culhrral deterrents are fewer, We h o w far less a b u t the wnbergradmte (or gradwte) expe~encesof the relatively smlt numkr of young women who actwlly choose S.M.E. mjors than about their pre-college expriences, m a t we do h o w is that their persis~nceraw are sipifiwtly lower than those of their male peers. In a review of rwent studies, Strenh a d his collmpes (1993) found that the persistence rates of men in S.M. E, mjors varied betwmn 6 1 percent for highf y selective instiwtionsto 39 percent for national samplw, md beWwn 443 per~ent surd 30 percent for womm. As Astin & Astin (1993) additionally absenre, use the propafiionab loss of women from S.M.E. mjors Is grwter than that of men, the under-reprsentationof women inerases duGng the undergrzrduate years. 'This picture is esspwially puding beeause there is some evidence that women entehg S,M.E, mjom have fiiglrer average prfommce scores thm their male counterparts, For exafnple, at the University of Goiordo, for freshmen ente~ngb e w a n 1980 and 1988, women who chose 3,M.E. mjors had higher average; P r d i c t d G.P.A. (P.C.P.A.) scares than their male peers (i.e., 3.05, compard with 2.99 in engineering, and 2.84, c o w a r d with 2.72 in science md mthemtics), Both women who persistd, and those who
Issues of Gender
235
switched, had higher average P.C. P. A, scares than men who either p r s i s t d or switched to non-S. M,E, -jars (Mcblland, X 993). Sources of explmation for these phenomna are l i ~ t dTobias . (1990) w s among the rehers to document the rote of faculty p&gogy in dissipatbg i science: among bath women and men. Rosser (1990) argues th& some of trttditiana) ~ i e n c epe8agogy are inherently more dimdvmtageous to women-a view wGch is s u p p o ~ dboth by the E"ligher Eduation Research Xnstihrt~studies of college freshmen (Astin, l 993), and by the University of Mi dy of enrollment and completion of science degrms f M d s , Stoat, &L Davis, 19892, By the end of fre yar, mple of high abilit,y warnen had encd 61 percent of the Mi scienw md mathematics classes which had se~ouslydampened their interest. A nzatched group of men were much less troubld than the women by ""poor tmching," the dullness and p r organiztrtian of the syXlahus material, or the fiercely comptitive atmosphere. n e y did not experience, as did the freshmen women, d i ~ n i s h e dself-confidence in their ability to do science. Other work spifically targeting the negative impact on women of the "cfimaite" af S.M.E. classraonns (most notably, that of Hall and Sandler, [t982]) is discussd later in this aaicle U3. the eorrkxt of our findings. One approach to the qut=stion of how well-prepard, abfe women came to be lost from undergraduate;: sience is suggesM by two smdies of gender differenws in S.M,E, prsistence (Strenta, ElXiott, Adair, Scstt, asld Mrzlier, 1993; a d Ginono, Brow, Henrferson, and Cook, 1993), both of which were b a s d on large institutionaldata sets. Their authors rmched the same eoncfusion: ee scar= of men and women in S.M.E. majors are the same, there is no diflerence in their persisterree rates. Strenta drew upon sumey data from 5,320 well-prqard, talented students who entered four highly mlative institiutions. Dmpite the high calibre of these students, the loss of w m e n h m S+M.E. wm prdict-ed by low seienw course grades during the first WO ymrs of study. n a e findings raise the fi;rdher qumtion: what would cause a large numtrer of well-prepard, wll-qwlified young women, particularly thltse at highly sele-ctive institutions, to perfom mare poorly than their m l e countevarfs in freshmn a d sophornam science and mathemtics clwses? hothier clue corn@ from the consistent finding that women at bath gradwte azld undergradwtr: lweIs r e p r t that fmlings of psychological alienation or decisions to I a v e S.M. E, disciplines, deprwsion played a critical role in md that despite g d acadernic per nws, they exp"ience diminished selfwtwm, self-confidence atld carer ambitions, Amofd" (1987) study of highability high d o o l seniors faund thme effeets to be m r k d among women in S,M .E. majors by sophornore y a r . *er the sam period, the self-eritem and carer aspirations of their male peers row. Strmta, also reprts less confidence among women than among men in their ability to do science and mare fwlings
Issues of Gender
236
of depression about their academic progress. These self-reports are independent levds. This apparmt actuaf and perceived related -jar8 has not& in a numbr of other swies, hcludbg that of Ware ad Dill (1986), who fomd the mast m r k d difference bemeea. male and female science shldene lay in their levels of selfmnfidenw. (Eor a review of this l i m b r e , K i d 1 119891; and O&es 1990bj,) mesa W h g s lmve us ta ponder the comectioas bmwn high d e o n strated abiZity m a n g a eoasisbtly smiler numbr of women entering S.M.E. disciplines, a b d m e y to lose cozlfidenee after mtry, and a vulnerability to s w i k h g WE&exceeds that of the male mztjority. Haw are we to interpret the hding of Strenta, Ginorio, and t b i r eatllapes, thztt simjlar p r f o prodwe similar prsisbace rates, regardless of gender? Can we, given the apparently depresskg effwts of some (as yet unidentifxd) factors in S,MI,E. undergradute (and gtitcfuab) experiences, assume that w o w n who perfom at the =me level as men share the same level of ability? W k g m tfris sbdy with the hope that our findings would throw some light on them is=%.
-
Gnder*, Student Gancem and Sktehiw Dsisiom Tablm S . 1 md 5.2 show the relative i a s s i ~ dta each of the 23 concerns a b u t their S,M,E. undergrrrdwte: expeGenw collectively m i d by our info difference8 in approwh to college dueation ~ e bynm l e and femle S.M .E. studenr. A number of imuw cluster around the question of w b t swdents see m the pprimry goal of tfreir education. Mmy shdents of each group ehwsrs m 8,M.E. m j o r Xarg~lyh a m t h q are Srrthsically interest& irr its swbject m t e ~ dm , d a i m s t identical proprtions of male and femie switchem r e p & that a difiaished Intwwt kn their discipline contributed to their decision to w i k h (i.e., 43.0% by vs. 43.8 96 by men). Among mniors, the propoeion of m @ who ~ last was slightly higher (39.0%)than that of women (3 1,695). Beyand this padty in of Xaek or loss of ixltrinsie interest, the educzltisnal foeus of young men is m r e instrumental than that of their fenate c o u n t e ~ a e in s that they are more willing to place career goals abow considerations of p m n a f slatisfwtion, By contrast, young women show a grater e their d u a t i o n , their mrwr goals and their personal pf-iorities fit coherently togetfier, Men a p m r m r e willing thm women to shift -jars as ;a m m s ta improve their earmr p r o s ~ t (10.1% s vs, 4.0%). S i ~ l a r l ymore , male thm f e w l e switchem (36.0% vs. %,9$6) cited the: p a r expecw mteristl return on their kvestment of time, money and effort as a frrctar in their switclxing dsisions. Both more male switchers overall (48.3 %6 vs. 38.7 %) and m r e mle than femle seniors (23.4%vs. 17.1 96) exprmsd dissaitisfaetion with "the poor profit-to-grief ratio" oaf S.Xt3.E. m ~ o r s .
It might have been prdietc;rf, on the basis af t d i t i m a l mmnyptians that young women glight be mam p n e tharr young men b leave S.M.E. mjors hause, they bad less 'nabral aptihlde' for them, and had, in their mrly college years, discover4 a stronger aptitude for a non-S.M.E. mjor. We found no supprt in t h w &ta f a such a hypthmis. I n d d , relatively few switcbers left (9.8%)ar w n s i d a d laviag (11.5%) h a w tfxey bad discover& &at a oonwience disiplhe W= m m suiM to their abilities mdlor tr:mperameot, and &ere W= tla gender diffemw in this regard. Hawever, more w o m n &m men fcl.6.2 96 vs, 34.8 96) switch&, Irs part, t ~ g i hc b m t , e b t k r ovemlf or m aas md/or lifestyle which their W ,or ing to them (is@,,37*6% S.M.E. m j o m appear4 women vs, 20.2% men). n e w diffemnw am also e c h d by whom mare w m e n than m n felt that other mjom d g h t hav b t k r educatiatl (38.2 R vs. 24.7 961, or expr-4 doubb a b u t the p r w n d md S,M.B, carers (23.7% vs.28.2%). J& mtisfaetiaas they This e o m p a ~ ~ a a dissatisfaction with S.M.E. majors and for witehing dwisiom, comiderd, offers a picture of women in S.M ,E. =jars as sbdenb with lower instmmentality than their m l e pmrs, md with grater e x p r e s d concern a b u t the quality of their eciu~ationmd their worEng lives beyand d l e g e . However, it oEers no axplanation for the dispraprtionitte loss of women, nar for women's g r a k r loss of confidenw earIy in S.M.E. =jars. h d d , rehtming to our diseussian h C b p b r 2, the stmngest difference bewmn w f e and femfe sbdents was found to lie not in their s for Iaving S.M ,E, mjars, but in their for entefing them. As a, rmounted, womm differ& very shaq men in that the perwnaX influence of fanrify, high =hoof taehers a d ather significant adults h mare i m p m t fator in their chaiw of an S.M,E, =jar thm was ith mene2Also, on. entq, women had less well-etevelopecf views of td out of ~olfe;ge&m did mle frabmen, less clear id- about a paeiculsrr m j o r intelleehlly, or what they wmted from omen were also m r e o b n altmistie than men in their than men to witeh in arder ta pursue carwrs w&ch offer4 a g itarim or more permnalt y satisfying work.
X)ifferenrial Impad qf the Weed-Qur nd set of thrw item in the tables, namely, c u ~ c u l u r npace and workload, the impaict of lower-thm-xptd grades in basic S.M,E, cltasses a d the effects of the eoxnpetitive S,M.E, culture, reflwt the differential impxt af the W&-out sysbm on man and women. For =eh of these faetsrs, the effst on the switching dwisions of men was grat-er than that on. women. Fwling avewhefmed by the fmt pace a d heavy workload of mrly S.M.E. classes
238
Isslces of Gender
f i p r d in the switching mtional of 41.6 perwnt of m l e switchers, wmpard with 29.0 p r w t of 1Femlt: witcherg. Considerationsbased on l w grades were r e p o d by 27.0 percent of mfe, compared with 19.4 fzercent of femle switcbiers. The most pmnouned gender distinction in this set of factors occurs with s~dentsAifficultiesin tolemting the high degree of competition they encountered in S.M .E. classes. m i s problem contributed to 25.8 percent of the wilctting dmisions of men, hut to o d y 4.3 prcent of the switching decisions of women. rime distinctionsare sinrilarly reRecM in the concerns of swikhers overall, bur do not a p p r among seniors because coneems about competition and grades dwhdle, or chmge their c h m t e r , after the wead-out pedod is aver. Problem with the pace of their work and with excassive cuniculum dernmds remin at a high level (41.4%"0)mong seniiors, but there are no apprmiabfe differences among men and women in complaints about them, Tables 5.1 md 5.2 offer same explanations for the grmter impact of the W&-out system on male rather thm femle switchers. Failure ta eshblish peer groups for collwtive study and mum1 support is more mark4 among male swikhers: 24.7 percent of men (cornpar4 with 9,7 percent of women) defcribd themelves as working in ai salibry, unsupported way, and 15.7 percent of men (compard with '7.5 percent of women) =rim at l a s t some part aP their switching decisions to failure to seek out approp~atepeer help. Fernale switchers also complained more: (83.9 %) than did m l e switehers (68.S 910) about dificufty in getting help with a c d e ~ cproblem or advice &out other concerns-though the level of these complaints was high among at2 students, Although they o&en rep&& b i n g unable to get the help they wught, women were more w i l l ~ gthm were y young men to a d ~ txtt the n d for help, md to seek it at m early stage, Both this, and the tendency to work coltabratively, offer women a buffer against the negative impact of the weed-out experience.
Among students of this calibre, what cannot be used to explain the differential gender effects of the weed-out process are students assessments of the adequacy, or athewise, of their high school science and mathematics as a preparation for college work: very similar proportions of mle and female switchers refemed to the inadequacy of their high school preparation in explaining either their problems in the major, or their switching decisions. ot adequately lurderstand the dimensions of gender Xt is clear that we rises to thu prasuPes of the wd-clut system by differences in $&dent reference ta the nurne~cdata alone. Later, we will argue-an the basis of evidence in the text data-that the w d + u t proct=ss has a greater i m p t on young men because it carries messages which are intended to have meaning for them, and to which they respond, Xts e n d & mmings are abseure to women, and they are thus less dirrcctly affect& by them, at least in te switching decisions,
In a third group of issaw-those concern& with the Immixlg e x p i eace-we also n d to &no t-x, the text data for m undersmdinlng of differences in the ways in which. smdents respnd tO S,M. E. ogy. m e r e is little the high level of difference b w w n m l e and femXe svvitehers, ei citicism of faculty pe8agogy wGch thay e x p r w (i.e., 92.1 96 among men, md 89.2% among women), or irx the contribution made by poor tmching to the switchi~gdwisions of m n (39.3 af women (33.3 %"o) M a t the text data revwl is that m l e and femle studenh diverge not in the perception that gagicat problem exist, but in their dehitions of ' g d tmching" in what they expeet of the fwulty-swdent relationship a d in the c o n q u e n c s of their unmet expechtions. h o n g mniors, dismtisfaction with faculty as twchers rewins Cgh among women (80.3 %), while among men, although it is still high (66.2 R), it is much lower than it is either h r male witchers or for either group of wornen. Loss of, or failure to develop, interest in the discipline is closely associated with disappointment with faeuIty m tachers, Disinterest, which is r e g o d 4 by approximkly Wo-thirh of all switchers, c~ntsi butes ta about 413.0 percent of all switching decisions, md (its already mentioned) is undifferentiatd by sex. A low level of kterest in their discipline re-ins a problem for seniors, and is reprteb toy 31.6 percmt of w m e n and 39,O percent of men. Femle switchers gmerally report more conceptual difficulties than do mle switchers (33.3 R vs. 20.2%"0) and more il(:;Ldenrric problems which they v~ewas serious enough to be: a factor in their switching deeisians (16.2 5% vs, 9.0%). Bwause the m n a d women in our sample were undifferentiatedt either in their f?high)demonstrated ability in mthematics ar in. the frequency with which they prepration, we again &m& to the repotted inadeqwies in their high gltrmscripb for explimations. The key iswe is whether femXe swikhers acRtally encounter a higher degrw of difficulty with the mterial than their male countevafts, or whether they experjence more doubts than do young men about the adeqmcy of their abilities, n i s question is address4 Later in this chapter.
%wand
G e d e r 13ifJFereace~i~ OfhierStdenf Concerns Among the remining factors contributing either to switching or to student concerns, male switehers r e p & fimneial probtems mare o&enthan do female swikhers, bath as a r a o n for switching (23.6% vs, 10.8%"0)nd as a general eonwm (35.9 96 vs, 23.7 96). Male switefiers also report slight1y more dificui ties than do women with the u n e x p t d liength of 3 , M . E . mjors, OveraXI, men are mom concerned to weigh the costs (including the: financial casts) against the mgible benefits of their persistence: in a major. Although very few male or female switchers felt that the inadquacies of foreign-barn T.A.s or faculty had much to do with their dmisions to leave, approximately one-third (34.4 % ) o f femIe (vs, 24."1 of male) switehers
complained about the teaching or tutoniog they had received from foreign faculty riaudy, this digereace reverses amng seniors,) On the find &at the grmbr difficulty reported I., witcbm in djusting to the W c b g or htafing of am-native English has rarely my&g ta da with culwml diffemnces in attitudw to M&, u4hete worn- encamter dirwt hostilitpr, or the &nor irritations of prejudicial attitudes towards them, it is much more likely to be expressed by wfrite, A n x w i ~ a nmales. M e m their eoncem are f o c u d on difieulty in underswing mterial grwnted with a forei&n m e a t , there are no d i ~ e m a b l e differences in the complaints of male and female switchers. The greatest apparent difficulty for women in the early ymrs of their S. M. E, &ers with foreign T.A.s or faeulty is that diffieultiw with langwge piace yet another F estatblishlnga p r s m a l tacher-lamer ref aiansbip, W e r e e to overcorn difficulties with their teacher's swent md him or her, the problem is &issipat&, Male switehers concerns' with foreim T,A.s m d faculty are (&gain)more irzstrumentaf: &t=y fwus m the t b m t tbat difkulties with language pose to their mmprehension of m b f i a l they a d in order to do well, h the balm= of this chapter, we draw ei~cltusivelyu p n the text data &I explore what the differences evident in Tables 5.1 a d 5.2 m m , how they m y be expf a i n d and what else is invalvedi, In &doping an explanatory framework far the findings from this and other s ~ d i e s we , drew upon studentsbbsewatians &mut the m a r e of their difficultis, issum which were embdded in their ts and upon the reqoasesj of women to the obsenrations and persptives of men, and vice versa, The latter arose spanheowly in discussion, or were offer4 in r w o m e ta our of points which had k a raised in other focus groups or interviews, All of the f a b r e s of the expriences describd hlovv were found, to a grwter or lmmr extent, on all campuws.
The Exprieaw of Wamen in S.M.E. Majars
me kgecy of
Pm-College S o c h l h d ~ n
fithough it wm not a p r i m q inkntion of this projwt to explore the precalIege experienm of young wmen wha chose S.M .E, mjors, our infomants o b n drew on t h influeam ~ in expfairring why persistence ww difficult, or how it b;rd k n acfieved. Most women r e p d they had experiend g a d t w c h g , izzdividwl attention m d meoumgement from their elementary and high school mehers. T%is had faster4 and Xegit i m t d their interest in mtlkemtics md science, and built confidence in their ability to continue in these fields at college level. H o m e r , a m n g b t h witchers and non-switchers, some women had pursued their interest in science or -themtics despite the gender prdudices of partiwlar teaehets and eaunselars, The negative conquenees of them expAences persisted into college:
l s s ~ wof Gender
241
There were six of us in tfie high s c h o l physics classes, and I was the only girl. The teacher wak& in the first day and said, 'So guys, what do you t h f i about & hem?%d Chey wad me 'it'ffar the me of the year. I'm serious, And I -me here urith zero self+s -it% been a big issue for me here too-all four ywm, (Female wlrite seienee sdteher)
I was put. in the dumb group. I never hought I was dumb, but it s t 3 had an effat on me. l thought other p p l e we* better at scimee and math than I was, And yet, I got As and Bs in math all the way through high school, hcIudhg p*aalculus, (Female white mathematics non-s1K.ltcRer)
The gate-keeping role of teachers and high school counselors is clearly e r i t i d , but it was nat a major mum of discouragement. for most of our y women d e s c f i w ts. However, deqite their twhers' ssupwrt, difficulties in 'giving themelva p h s s i o n ' to chmse S.M.E. mjors and found it Bard to explain prsisely wbat had discouraged them. Their explanatiolus r e f e r e n d the d a m p i n g effwt of eulhral mesages which suggested that women ei&er couldnY, or shouldn't, do scieace, Same had felt the social stigm of b h g a girl who vvas g d at nxathemties, or were intirslidated by the prospwt af e n t e h g mjors which were r w o d to be, campetitive and hard: So many women just kind of say, 'Well, if there's going to be so much eomp&itian out there, and men are obviously bmer than we are at this, then why go into the field?"Femaie white mathematics switcher) For some mson it just eliebd, and 1 alurays Xovd math fmm then on, l'd been prmy much a h a d since fist grade, and one of my girl friends and X would always be two gmdes ahe(rdi, lt was fun up to about sixth grade, but suddmfy I didn" want ta be this Ekstein wha was always ahad. IR the next two gmdm, I nwer felt behind, and always got As, but I was more caught up in t h social ~ thing and never wanM it ta be h o w n that I exeeUed in math. pemate white mathematics switcher)
On entry ta collqe, and while in the pmeess of considering possible mjors, some vvomea reported oveft discouragement by faca1Ey advisors agaiast their attemptkg paxticular S.M.E. classes. For women with l i ~ t e dselfwnfidenee in tbeir abilities, this could tip the bgimce of their decision: In Caleulus I11 and advanced calculus, there were only two women in the elass. There just have lo be more capabb women out &ere than that. One was a friend of mine. Shejust didn't tthink she could handle it-and that comes with your self-image. I was advised not to take it by my physics advisor, but 1 was ~onfidentsough to h o w X could do it. And the women with me in the ~arGer efass were very smart-they k n w how to handle it, But, Xie me, they were advised not to try it. (FemaEe white seienec: non-switeher)
athough they often could not point to m d i m t a m u m of discolir8gement, women whowledg& the w a q u e n c e s of a p r m m of disauragement duPing which they had lmmed to set their mpirations at a level lower than their
242
Issues Q$" Gender
abilities, md had deveio@ attihdes which r & u d their ehmce of survival. eat among t h w were caneems a b u t whether they %elongd"whicfi was not m isme for their m i e peers. meir doubts were msediveness in a k n g for urhat they n d d ; Xms her-strength to cope with set-backs; and more dependence an others far rwsurmw: There" s aceflak kind of self-questionhg that" a big part of it, I saw much less selfquestionkg from the men, ("Femalewhite enginwring switcher) Yau don't l a w youke goad. You fwl you just maybe made it by aceident-you h o w , the imposter syndrome,. ,'And, gee, I didn't t o well on this test, sa &at proves f should drop out. "ose thoughts rally bind women h m the very start, You don't have that drive that the guys. do ...A Iot of the guys don't know the jargon either, but, if nmessary, they Vlf f&e it.. ,Wereas, you 'ffess up when you don't b o w , and don" e x p t them to value your opinion if you ds know, You don% have that confidence that you can da this.. .and that's what you n d . (Female white engineefing non-switcher)
I" far enough along now that I'rri strong enough in myself to stick with enginmhg. But, if I was a freshman struggling with these inner-unceminties, I might be gone by now. (Female white enginwring non-suritcher)
Male students noticed uncemin, self-doubting behvior among the women in their early elasms, anid were not necesmfily unsymp;rthetie. However, they explain& it as ctitical for suwival to over~orn-or to hide-a lack of confidence. deficit in the pre-college ducation of m n y women was labombq exprienee;. This deficiency was more &;m. a t that women apprwhed b h i c a l bsks witb more temerity than they subsquently kund was wammtd. This gave their m l e pmrs a psychological advantage and wm matber source of fears about incompetence and daub& a b u t 'belonging': A lot of the Double E professors w m e with the assumption that weke been t h k e h p with electronics alX our lives, and that we knew how to put tagether circuib and knew about msistars and transistors and everything-"cause w e k e been brought up with it, right? Wrong! I'd nnever secn a booster, and when the T.A. said, 'lust wire this up,' X didn" know what to do. It was pretty intimidating. I had a good Xab paftner who hejpd me get S&&&, but X felt such an idiot. I wish they would offer an intra fab. (Female white mginwring non-switcher) The guys definitely have all the advanbges: there" more of them in the class; there's mostly male professors; and they%e brought up with it. Their fathers teaeh them useful stuff when they're little. X have a much better grip an technical things than some of my guy friends doing English, and it's sot bmause E have this natural gift to do engineering: it's bbec?ause I've spent time looking under the hood of a car. (Female white enginmring non-switcher)
&sues of Gender
243
W o m a were also concern& that m l e a m p m ~ of e their a c a d e ~ woah c of who they arts as women. wwfd have negative mnsquences for their E the qmlities that The problem of belongkg and iderxtity are l i d & , women feel they must demonstrab in order k, win rwowtion for their "riyht" to belong (especially "smmess," w e d i v e n a and competitiveness), raise the anxiety that such rmopition am only be won at the expnsc: of 'femininity": L o o b g back, I see that maybe X was afraid to be too good at it...that if I show& how good I was, I would lose: my femininity-that men wouldn't find me aaraetive, I t h I 'VG ~ always been eneouragd to mess up, then guys come and help you out (faughs)+ven though Z didn't ml-ty n& the help, But they have to t h i that ~ you do,.,Subconsciously, f rally felt: that if X s u c c d e d , then they woufdn" tee how attractive I was. (FemaIe white engineering switcher)
It's set up that women have tu be more m a b in engineering to g& along. I notice that women iT1 other majors don't sseem like they have to change themselves Eilce I did in order to fit in, To make it in enginee~ng,I had to learn ta be more male.. .Eventusfly, you"@ l w m d to Lake more stuff-maybe are stronger than whm you first came in*But it always bother& me-that I had to change. (Female white a g i n ~ ~ non-switcher) ng n e s t : s p d e r s touch an a numbr of issues which have s i p i f cane@for attempts to ehmge the: S.M.E. culhre in ways that will improve women's persistence, m e y highlight the double-bind si-t-ion of women who f d they by losing it in prsonaf,te c m only win m l e aecepbnce, in a e a d e ~ e m e y point to the extrinsic ~lakrreof traditional female identity, which is both wle-defined arzd mle-confimd (see, for example, Eccles, 1904; Unger & Gmwfard, 1992; Cilligm, 1982, 1979; Miller, 1992; Surrey, 1991). They also clah@ that women c m be set up to fail udesls they are helped to sm how the t stmcture e m play upon their mxietieu about their existing m l e - d o ~ n a npower image, a d are offerd some strategies to p r o h t themelvm from it (Beledy, Clinchy , Goldberger, &; Tam'Ie, 1986; Komxovsky , 2985; Royehoudhury , Tippins, &. Niehrols, 1993; Rosser, 1990). We will lreturn to the significance of woxnm's problem with self-preeptian and mlf-presentation later in this chapkr,
Negatl'va Expertmnees with S. M. E, FaealTly We comidered it i m p t to mtablish f'torn the outset whether or not switching khsvior, or the problem of those who remain4 in S,M. E. mjors, were in any way relatd to dis6r"i~nabr)r behstvior or expressions af prejudice against w a r n by S.M.E, faculty, T,A,s or fellow students. We, therefore, s k e d all our female switehers to give account-s of any negative incidents which they had either experiend or obsemd and to estimte whether these had
influeme4 their decision to switch. We a s k 4 all women students to discuss tbeir
levd of codart w i t b S.M.E. -jars, and all m l e i t bhavior they had not& &wards *eir 173 women inbmiewd, on! y eight (four witchem a d four nonswikhem) r e p d a d i m t exprienw of what they camider& unaccepbble behavior by S. MeE. fmulty mm w e ~ u n hincluded d i z r i ~ n a t a r ybbavior to bdividul wamn, mdmess to ail the w o m n in a c f w , and two accounts of b h v i o r p"c"x'wiv4as ~ x u i l by a p p r o p ~ a kWen. , we irztrduced the &pie of gender, lbstfi man and worn= md& to m u m e that we were mkag p r i m ~ l y a b u t mxwl hamsmmt By facui9. However, women were ov it clear that this w a not ~ "the mI isme." thm dirwt negative e x p ~ e n w swith faculty ware 'war a m y of mom sabtle experiences by which some faculv were to convey the mesage that atomen were not wefeome in their mjar. the expfiences of rmm-mtes, friends, ar elms-mtes
.
their b b v i o r : My old room-m%&-who graduad in enginmhg last smester-on her fist day at the university, her enginwhg advisor mid, You won%t a k e it: you look &e a partier.' 1 hha this man for a few caurses and fie was very chauvinistic. (Female whik engineefing switcher)
Thae women were complaining the other day about a physics professor who gave a B+ to a woman who had got 89.5 prwnt as a total for ail her tests and homework, while he gave an A- to a man with the same seore. (Female whik ma~ernaticsnon-wit-cher) A fdend in engbw&g-whsk rally, raUy bright-got the %me gmde as another girl on a quiz. They were sitthg rows aprt, but he said, Well, you
telepathically. m e n he accused them af being too two must be cornmuni~atixlg cute to be dokg so well.. (Female white seienee non-switcher) My room-mahs have exwhen& =me disc~mhatian-boa subtle lend blabnt. The tone is, 'You" re warnan in enginec:ring, so you're a failure as a women,hor, You're just a pretty girJ; you didn't do this right,hr, T a u must have copied this from ;someone dse."Femate white engineehng nonswitcher)
Thw stclrim mtter beeause, as they cireulat.e, they reinflorce my negative feelings about being in the major that women have already developed. In focus groups, a story toid by one w m n would aftm evoke a wrius oF stories from the athers in the graup. Negalive exphenws with faculty (whether prmnal or those of w m e n that they knew) were mostly subtle rather than blatsnt. They often occurred in stori~s of how women bad feft excIwled by faGurXty from some of the activities of their class:
It's hard. Beeguse a lot of the connohtions that professors use are male. mey% refer to us all the t h e as 'You guys,hztnd e v e m h g is h d of male, on; you"@ not and I didtn" fed &at I wm helucid. I V tell mysdf, "me being y e u d at beeau~s:you'm a girl,' But it was so hard not ta be ineluded h the convam&ian...I don't b o w if professors see worn=. (Female white e n g h w h g switcher) He wouldn" let any af us thm women use the mehines. X had a friend who took me round the lab a b r class to m&e sure I got the hmds-on e x p ~ e n w I shoutd have got in class. But he was =l bgahnt about not Imkg women th* it was okay to run the machhm, wemale white enginwring nonswitcher)
I never want to take a class fmrn A---. He's so chauvinistic, One of my good friends was one of three girls in his class last ymr, and he invitd all the guys over for b r d f a s t one morning at the end of class, but he didn? invik any of the girls. (Female white mathematics non-switcher)
Although the s o w e of the fwling was illusive, w m m also s e n d that m m male faculty dispprovd of their presence through the cons-t air of tension in the atmosphere of pa&icular el~kjses: There" jjut a lot of tension-you can feel it when you take classes where there" only thrw women, It's sot baseid on rally dis~firninatkgSings being done-just a fmring thdk always there. (Female white msthematks Ran%*&her) They just don't L o w how to aet ~ 4 t wmm h students. They don't h o w what to do with you. Their whole anitude, and fa~ialexpressions and body language says, 'You belong in the Ekhen. Wat are you doing here?Theykrc: not allow4 to say it, but you averhar it in conversations. (Female white science switcher)
So- faculty set a ~sogynisttan@by encouraging, imoring, or .Failing to chmk the mdeness of young men towards the mueh s m l l ~ numbr r of women in their elasms: X was the only woman in a graduatelevel physics elmis with ssevm men- They would tell jokes in bad hste, and watch to see how I handled it. S o m e t h a they would do raHy lewd things. They just did it to bother me. And, if f rmetd, they would Xau& at me until, f would just want to kit1 them. But the professor wouM just ignore it. H e wou2dn"t iakwene to stop it, or to help me, He'd just say, Qka-y; let's get a move on,"trying to make it as if nothing had h a p p n d , (Female white scienw switcher)
degrw to wbch faculty did (or did not) tolerate mde elassrwm bhavior bward women was rep&& to be t r m d t t d to their a c k n g ad.fakratory assismts, who then r e p t d the paltern:
The e x w h e a t involvd a bolt that I had done up too tight, sa I asked the T.A. for a w=nch. The lab coardinabr w a k d over and managd &-I untwist it without the wench, and he looked at the T.A. and rolled his eyes, and h u g h d at my asking for a wrench. I w s perfatly capbte of doing it myself; I didn" n d them to do that, (Female white science non-switeha) There wre thae guys in physics labs who supply all the elwt~cirlthings, This ~ at all. But it shows you how all the men that are one w ~ u l d n % ~ hto&t h gkls involved in physics have this esmarade~e&out them-and you?e not h e f u d d , (Female whik scienm swi~eher) The physics depafiment is hodd. The only other woman and I in my lab were t r m t d like we w r e stupid no matter what we did, If I got a wrong answer, it would be that X was stupid. If a guy got a w a n g answer, it was just that he just hadn? explain4 it right. (Female white science non-switcher) 1 kept fwling stupid as%ng questions in the Iab. The T.A. was like, mod! You don't t o w a n y t f i i n g . 3 ~made me feef We just some stupid girt who didn't know what 1[ was doing. (Female white science switcher)
The women who r m u t & them expefiencm o h n proffer& explanations for the behavior of their male professors: mme faculty were w n as mverCIy attempting ts drive women from the mjor by ~ E n them g feel uncornfoxtable and unwelcome; others were m n als ipormt of bow to hhave toward women In m a a d e ~ or e collegial context, Most women abjsuxned that their negative e x p ~ ~ n cwith e s fwulty reflect4 inse~sitivity,cluminxless, ar out-dated modes of thought rather than intentional discrinninatio~,An apparent inability to trmt women as sedous shrrdents was =m as reflwting a generalid male prejudice &out the ment-al capabilities of women which they had also experiened in other contexts: You get: ihe whole range, you know, from actual sexist remarks and jokes, to saying things that are just childish, And I think mostly they don" even rmiize: it, You can't tbeLieve the prwon~eptionsthese p p l e have about women. I've had professors tell me that they just don't take some of the women in the class as seriousIy. And it's sclmr they don't rftzspnd to you in the same way as the men, And it's not any one science depadment-it's vefy vvicfwprmd, (Femaie white seienee switcher) They bnd to be tougher on the women. They21 sslly in a new class, Wow, w e k e got girls in here again!' I don't think it's iinkntional: it's the way they were raised., .f 've had a couple of instmctors wI1o are never gonna help you, and they m&e it v e q plain. And you ask, ' m a t am I doing wrong?Xnd the guys will say, 'WeII, he doesn? rally like wornen-at least not in his part.ieutar field. He's jjut an old-timer kind of guy, ' (Female whib seienee non-switcher) It's not so much that the professors act badly towards you, It's s o r e the sense that youke not swn as capable of the same kind of thinking, You know, I can
thi& just as abstntealy or inknsely as a man. But that's part of the way that. most men out there think too, You tell therm your major, and they loak at you as though there's no way you could be doing that. (Female whi& science nonswitcher) We ask& women whether, md how, negative expedencm with faculty had a f k M them, Most b d little dirwt conmt with fxullt;y in their first two years, w ~ c lh i ~ their w oppa ty to = u s dirrixt distress during women" highest risk p i o d for &tefrrh d d , the hhavior of male T.A.s and pmrs was reported as having a more direct impact on women's level of disco&& in this period than the behavior of male faculty. As we shall argue later, for most women, it was not so much what the f ~ ~ fdid t ythat causd thern to consider lcfitving these: mjors as what they failed to do, Women responded ta negative expriences with 3,M.E. faeully (either their o m , or thosts of peers') by avoiding pa~ieularEaGulty md lmving classes wfim they were made to feel uneo&omble, & e m h e l ~ n g f y , women wish& to impress upon us that negative experiences witb facujty had not influenced their dwisions about prsislencc? in the mjor, They did not blieve that either the Covert or ove& attempb of faculty to toisourage thern from continuing were succmsful, whether for other women they b e w . If mytbing, this kind of behavior women more d e t e ~ n not d to be driven away: X k v e goaen the feefing from seveml of my male professors that. X shouldn? bbe able to do this bwause I'm m woman-the, Were let me show you,' anit-trde. And my respanse is, 'Oh, I've alrady finish&; help this guy over here, He
doesn't h o w what" gokg on. Lwve me alone. "Fernale white engineenlng her) non-s~te I don't r a l l y get too discouraged by it. If anything, it makes me want ta do it even more. (FemaIe whik science non-switcher)
Most af us have never felt that really overt discrimination stut-F, And I don't thlink that" the problem. People: vvho think that are missing the point. (Female white scienee switehcr) This Fmding supprtrs earlier studies which found littleovert "gender discrimination" against femfe students by male fax:ulty (for example, Strenh et a[., 1993; ansbntinogle, Comelius, & Gray, 1988; h p n i c k , 1984; Stemglanz & Lyberger-Ficek, f 977). ft also supgods the findings of Manis, Slaat, n o m s , & Dwis (1989) Chat women gave low r d i n g to the diserioninatory attitudes of faculty as a deterrent to persistence, By contmt, HaXI and Sandfer f 1982, 1984) desribe the role played by rudeness, disat-tion, lower faculty expwtations and overt discrianination by undergraduate instmctars in maintaining a range of cfassrmm inqwlities. n e y propose that these dirwtly Itad women of high ability to fwl that their acitde&c and carmr ambitions am fess imporbnt than those of their rnale p r s md to undw-achieve in the longer-term. This group
Issctes of Gender
248
and g d w i l y w a h g down women" desire to persist, ra&m thm ais a d i m t a m of switchg.
Neg&*ve A
and isehavi~rof M@& Peers
S.M.E. mjom ww a m r k d ihdm of their m l e p m . 'The ove~fy+x Wief W all w m a h their di66Iplhe were, by vim@sf t.he;ir having cham it, ~ m e a t l yuoaamtive W= held by young men in enginw~g,and to a sfightly teswr degrw, by d e physics, Gfihstry and apptied scien~emjom, Curiously, it uras liktle, found among male sadeats in m h e m t i c s and the other scienm: t it just w m e s down to is the pteUy girls do something else, and the brainy gkh stay in enghmhg-and I think that goes beyond enghmrhg.. .that" just a geneml eultural thing, (Male white e n g i n w h g switcher)
uence, yomg men in these;: =jars avoid& social e o n ~ with t femle cEss-mtes md sought &&S with women in non-meE. E. ciasses, whom they b i i e v d were iherently mare attractive, h kdividml hkmiews, m l e studends mrely offer& m o p i ~ o nabut the men h their S.M.E. w j o n q p r d to them. However, the livefy detzatm among young men group diswsiom not on whether the belief that mos in S,M,E. clmm w a e waarative wm vdid, but on why it wws tme, IEfecaus they tend4 to k h b r w t and ability in seiace or mthemtics as "maabral,'' they were apt to portray thaw women who chafe S.M.E. majors in one of four ways: as ihereotly ugly; as having been too busy with aeademie work to learn the arts of attrsctiw self-prmntatioa; as having lost: their attractiveaws afier they e a b r d the scienm; or subtly bfemd they ntight be imbiap: I would say they lose their feminism, They stop waring make-up; they dress mre like a man. (Male white scienw non-switcher) I remember smhg some besliueihl girls in the enginmkg dqafiment whom I felt were the excefiion rsrhet than the nom.. .I mmn, if you 're sommne wbak g a h g to s p n d that m u ~ htime and effort to beeome a p o d engineer, you'd probably spend a Iot of your childhood studying, And maybe that means you fors&e the Essbion awareness, the m&e-up, and the soeiaE kinds of things, Maybe they don't tvafue those things. (Male white anginaring switcher) I just don't l i e the women in enginmhg schaof to be honest with you (laughs). There were these three girls in my last cfass, and they all had H a v y Mm1 shh-not my t y p . . .I was tqining to thi& of a nicer way to say it
(laughs). I never went out with anybody out af the enghmring classes. (Male white enginmhng switcher)
Most young m m reported, how@:ver,tbat they enjoyed the prwnee of attractive, intelligent young women in nan-S.M.E. clas=. Intermtingly, men who bad wi&hercZ &to non-S,M,IE. mjom, mch as haam, in wEeh women were aka ty, n o t i d that womn who had also switch4 from S.M.E. m j o r s M,in d i h g m, chmged their from 'unattmtive" '"attlraetive': h a lot ~ of the guys carry this assumption that women in b h y fields are if they had, known &em in any other mjor, afl of them would have been consider& aaractive. It's some sort of conceual shiR. h d it's sat o p n for dkcussion, (Mafe white: seienee switeher) Xt
just unaam~tive,..I th*
, wme men aehowl&g& that
y af their m f e p m ards the women in S.M.E. cfasms a d e x p r e s d sympathy elf-prwntation this p o d for women. 'Women in e t x g i n w ~ g ,physics, c h e ~ s t r yand the appfid ziences m their w l e elms-mtes as aver-f;acm& the s x w f inbrest tbat wde;&e eon&~Es,but
women laoterf that t t l e aXy did not h o w haw ta relate to them as C O ~ I M work-mtes ~ ~ , ds. We; learned bath from women, m m o sympathetic ~ men, that women were subjsM on a bmis to crnd mxualXy-suggestive remrks and jokes intended ta women few1 uncodo*ble and unwelmm: They are always m&ing jokes and stuff, 1 haven" rwlly canfronM any of them-l just b d a keep waUrhg. X try not to shy around t h m . (Female Hispanic enghwhg s e k h e r )
way by w ~ c women h tried with cons les on their elf*-m was to r appearmw as plain and k~eutral% pssibl-oft= by w a h g a ve fe shdent drms-in the hopes of avoiding notice. This r e w n s e w o r n wfio adopt& it, by those women who did not, and by sympathetic mate mrs: There" s o way I'd wmr pnty hose, or mascam, or throw my hair up-&@ when X go to my art class. (Female white enginefin& non-sk.teher) X went out with Colondo" Junior Miss as a frshman, and she found it rally hard to deaf with. We studid physics bg&er, and we'd dk about it a lot. I mean, just ail the enginwrs would hit on her, and it made her feel uncornfomble. They made her feel that, b m u s e she was so attractive, she wulda't be smaR enou& to be in there with %em-so it was okay to hit on her, (Male white mathematics switcher)
They try to play down their femininity-not to show it as mu~h-so they won't get picked on, The attitude against them, it's so ovefi. (Male white seienm
non-switchcr) n o s e women wha attempled %invisibility%opped h t h ta draw less attention of m w m t d b d s , and to be U e n more se~ousXyas scientisb or engineers thm those women vvhom the men consider4 attractive. m i s kind of response aIso W a psyebological coun&qad, in t k t some women dapM a 'one of the bys-rwna that, agaia, s e w d to ~ n i their ~ mwxml differentness. This f o m of self-prwnbtion was ofien c r i t i c i d by other women, and, perversely, by male pwrs, ft wm also, in w u r w of self-reprawh among tho* women who had used it as a c y. Most young men were unaware of the role p l a y 4 by their o w behavior in distorting the ways in which their femfe cIass-mts present& themelves, One af the rewar& of persistence in m S.M.E. major is the a d ~ r s t t i a n offer& by people oubide the mjors-wpecidly to wrnen, I n d d , many women who switched a d ~ t t they d found it hard to give up k i n g trmterj. as sommne rather s p i a f . Part of this respect comes from the assumption that t;fiase who SUCG& are an i n b f l e c ~ fClite in m j o r s which demnd mare in md r w l v e thm my ather group of mjors, Men in these me to share their &ite shms with women, As they could not femle efittss-mbs, mafestrrdents sought i p o r e the high g& in ways that did nat concde inteffeetual to explain these goo to work very hard-perbaps hairder- than m e ~ t :women were y af the men, If there were same women who were good at mathematics, s the it was perhaps a frmk oecunenw, or women rnight do well in a s p ~ t uf disiplirre which, men consider4 ewier: I don't know why they drop out, The top rrznk in terns of G.P.A. would be
mostly women. But they would work harder: 1 donatnmessa~lythink they are smarter than us. k t l , some o f them may be, But a lot of them are just more ddicated. (Male whik scicncc non-switcher) Everybody's lookkg at her because sl~e'sgoad at math. But her being that good isn't like a trend, She's kkinda like a circus perfomer-a freak, (Maie white enginw~ngswitcher) There" ~ u stwo t women in my sophamore mechanical engineering classes, and a few more in civil and architeiccure. But the word has it that civil and architwtural are the two easier options, (Male while enginwring non-switcher)
Among young men, doing well by working hard 'counted90r less than Being consider4 very smart doing weEl h a u s e you were iderentiy %m&" placed a smdent at the: tap of the male p e r prestige system. 'The less apparent eEart a sudent put into achievement of good grades, the smarfer his peers assum& him (sic) to be, and the more respect they accorded hlm. Not aqking
Issues cif Geder
251
questions in class, and avoiding peer study situations, were two methods by w&ch male studeots sought to praewe their ksm;l&ess rating" Women could unwittingly break the rules of the male status system by openly discussing their problems, or by asking questions in class. They were largely unaware that this r d u e d their claim to 'smmess' among the men: I can%syee myself actually telling someone else, 'I'm killing myself in this class.' It's just fahidden. If youke having a h o ~ b l etime, you can't acknowldge it ...The women in my class are all sma&er &an me-but they swm to want to say things like, Wan, this is hard; I've been working like cmay."ut ere% no one here that. wan& to hear that. (Male white enginwring non-switcher)
As 'sm-ess" mathematics e s p i a t f y was believd by mny male engineefing and science m j o r s (though, curiously, not by m t e mathemtics -jars) to be m exclusive male attribute, it reinfarcd the need to explain the ces of mme worn= by mmns other than their ability. As alrmdy grrrdes did not count as evidence of 'smartnas7if they were largely as the prduct of bard work. They could also ht: discount& if they were ihdd to be the result of flirting with faculty or T.A.s. Notwithsmding the theory that most of the women in their elasms were unattractive, there, was a ecfesprwd belief tbat s o m femXe shndents did welt bwause they used fe&nine wiles to g a b an unfair advantage, Interestingly, this belief was express& by bath men and women. mough women might a c h a w f d g e Rirtixlg as a way to survive in a hostile atmosphere, most women frown& upon it m couxtterproductive b accepmw md respwt for women averail: I hate it when women %I% with proferssors. It% rmlly annoying-theyke ditzy too. I guess X feel it's insulting to other women. They make an image for the whole group sf us, (Female white science non-switcher) M e n they flirt their way to the grade, it's s o r e like fighting each other than supporZing a c h athcr ...In an a r a like mginwring, women fight each other more than in ather places, because they are more oppressed than in other places: the more oppressed the group, the more the individuals in it fight for the crumbs. (Female white engineefing non-switcher) mere" ppXe like me who don't tmt any favars, and who work vew, very hard-harder than the men, And we get in"it;;ltecIwith women who thkk the-y?re gonna g& by beeause they flirt with the faculty. It makes me mad, And X know it makes the guys mad too. (Female white engineerjng non-switcher)
Women report& that some m I e sfudents got angy, arid behay& ungl~santlywhen they did well on. tests and assignments. 'They tend& to cope with this by kwping quiet a b u t a good g r d e . From a focus group of women science seniors:
Issues of G e d e r
252
I th*
you end not t~ want to tell them that you did we8 on a kst.
Eght. Wen they give back the -B, if you gel a ~ l l pad e , you slip it into your fofder, bmum hwuen farbid you shouM dia well, TheykeMXoua if you do we#-"use
women
W@=
we shoulrin" be smarter than they are.
gaemiXy very awwe of the
a d of the Bisbdd, There" a prwived thrmt fiat f d s male anger a h u t bright women. Pmple tell jokes that are negative to women, which just hels it, h d it encouraga the women to pull back into safer ground-to chooge mow tmditional majors, or to adopt a mam neutral style-as a way of prohting themselves from t b t mger. (Female whik seienw non-swikher)
an the b h ~ v i a rof the yomg men the aceuslition that they wald sot
Ma& was always one of my favorite subjece. h d X always hel@ eve-ryone else out,. .I %v hard that stuff before: a b u t \Nomen and math, and it always made me mad, (F~malewhite enginwring switefner) Nor did they d e n l u e hard work as a m m s ?a achievement: wnnm wha had wa&d h ~ r dand earn& g& g d e s often expresd a g e r at m l e p r s who sugg-M that faculty anjight bsve "given them a br&" : If f took the t h e to whte up the lab pmperly and got a higher grade, they got mad-"h, it%sustbmause youke a girl. Girls g& a8 the breks--that% s h y they get the b a e r $fad(=8.*That" s h t i n g . I work harder than they do and they fell me l get the b r d s because li smile. V e q frustrating. fFmaie W ispanic enginearhg sktcher)
W e wem tat a party mently and another enginmr in her class a s k 4 my f ~ e n d , 'So are you s l q h g with the pmfessori ELI that haw you do it?"(FemaEe whito; enginmring sdtcher)
use of him E scorect five pohh Thk guy wrote me a note telling me it was higher on the homework-he was &Icing me X was riding on his coat-tails,,.So I caUd him up and chew& h& out,,.But they rmlly have to push me befon: I'll ay something. (Female Hispanie ertginee~ngswitcher)
'Women were also angry when mea m d e inapproptiatf: remarks and jakm, them fwl unwelcome and to devalue &ern, b t b as women and ass intellectual competitors:
They am always m e g jokes and stuff. I haven" t g y confronw any of hem-I just h d a keep w a b g . I try riot tO s a y around them, "use, f mmn, it% s o negative. Female Nhpa~irl:e n g h m h g switcher) g thme ~ s joka, e I don" t~ a b t of that stuff is inkndecf. The-y don't h o w hat you a n be m u y offended by that. But it m&es you fml like an ouainfer, (Female white e n f i w h g s*tcher)
If they mpmd& by shawhg &eir agar, this o d y m m & to r d e h 4 their bhavior warn. M m a p p d to anjoy 85 (laggrsgi~e,na d &W, &S =jars wem (by their de=tion It's U e them's two ways of dmhg k t h it-passive angry or active angry. Passive usuatfy work a b t b a e r , You kind of say, 'Ym,yes, yes,hand then you do whatever you damn well please. ( F e m b white science non-switcher)
hother s& of mle behavior-s w ~ c hd e women angry arose from the t &ay were incompbnt h pmcticstl mtkrs, such as lgbratory w q X a h d that in lab and other prsretical simtions, their male &em abut, gave hem help they did aat ask it h work that they had done: I w;ou;td&S tQ strangle half the studenb at ttirna. W e n I first came here, they woufdn? let me; touch anything in the fab. They let me take down the dab-that's all, The last day of class, they let me weigh sorndhkg. (Eemafa: Hispanic engineekg s ~ t c h e r ) 1 had s lab p a ~ n e who r o r d e d me to pick things up when he drop@ them. A b r a day o f that, I ask& for another parlner, (Female white science nonswikher) M e n we d e a pmenwion, the guys w u l d suaest that we hold up the signs, while they did the t a b g . (Female white enginee6ng switcher)
Here, again, we were aware that both women md men hund it hard to rejinquish traditional ways of relatkg to each other in. sphers af ~ t i v i t ywhich havet a long lristary of gender mpamtioa. n o = women who hatd work& ta ce in b h i c a i a r w of aetivity were fmstraM by
Baause the male e h ~ he s has to a e care of the female, this fii-tious and at hkraetion s e m s to benefit &em both-bd af f d s some male -8, the same time, the w m n obfaixls what she wants,..l don't know if those women are rwlfy capable of dohg the work-the problem is, they k v e never been ksted. (Female white ma&ematics san-s*t~her) The fireuIty and the T.A.s are cafluding in m&ng them more helpless. My ffiend p& by that way, But she never learns haw to do it, and she's s w e r
254
Issues of Gender
going to like lab if she rmUy doesn't t o w how to do anything in it. (Female white science non-shtcher) Women who are new to the ;labs g& intimihtd by the machinery, so they31 ask their T.A. or th& male padner to do things for them. Evert, though it's well-maning, it hu& both the men and the women, It discourages women, bwause they don't get a sense of aeeomplishmmt, of knowing what they are doing. The women are prfwtly capable of doing this: they just need to be push& a fittle. (Female whib science non-switcher)
Policies wficjb have attemptd ta encourage mare paflicipation by hithedo under-repregent& groups sametimes h w e wunter-productive side-eff:ex:ts, Particufarly in wginmring, the aswmption among undergraduates that women gradwtes ~ g h rweive t preference in a ver;y competitive job mrket w8s an dditioleal source of strain: Mare women than men are getting hired in our paIlticuIar field-chemical englnsring-so there" s lot of bitterness between men and w m e n . They see it as reverse disc&ination, and they have a p i n t , But it makes it difgcult, (Female uthite enginedng non-switcher)
My grades are: probably bbdter than theirs, but they have jobs right now. ): think companies arc looking for w m e n enginmrs, especially if they have high C,P,A.s. And a lot of girls are pretty smart, so they usually try to hire them every chance they get. (Male Asian-American enginmring switcher) I'm gogonna have a lot of opprtunities, which is nice.. ,I" mure a lot of people would view that as a bad way to get where you're going, but, right now, in this world, it's the only way t;o get &ere. If, when youke gotten there, you can prove you were wo&h going lhmugh a quota, that's sail that matters to me rwUy. (Female bhek science non-switcher)
Same women felt that preferentid hiring pslicies, scholarships which promote women's pa&icipation in science, and speeiaI program to support. worn= though S.M.E. mjors, add& to the difficulties vvhich they already facd in establishing d e rapwt for their abilities. Such women avoided any kind of special treatment, did not use womn's dvisars or programs, or join w m e n 2 s professional societies. They preferred to cope with the discomforts of their mjor by distancing themselves from aII sources of oflTiciaf help based on gender: E haven" had anythhing to do with the women" pprogram. I don't tknow much about it...I don" want to be t r m t d s p i a l bwause I'm a woman. (Female white engineering switcher) X got a sehalarship once because X was a w m a n , and I took it. 1 mean, why wuldn? t take it? But X felt kind of dixninhhed by the fact I had gotten it. (Female white science non-switcher)
As with their e x p e r i e n ~of hostility from m l e f ~ u I t y women , switcherg i m p r m d upcm us that, although the behavior of their a l e peers was a murce of anger or irritation, it did not dirmtly lead to their dwisions to switch. As hdicated, the d a m s of mate &ward femte shtdents wm much more thm athem--notably a g h ~ h gphysics, , P ~ Q ~ Q Uh~ G ~ S.M.E. m j ~ m &edstr)r and the applied scienm, Howwer, the pfapasity of women to witeh is not gratm in those mjom thm it is from nnathemties and other seienee mjors. Nevefihelm, the: d e b h w i o r of m t e peers w s a consmt, daily muretl: of s t r m for women. Xxx those cl where it prevalent, it uras efarly s bskground fwtar g women" dwisions tO l a v e easier when ather, more sipifiant, factors came into play.
Unders-diag why men in some S,M .E. msjors behave badly bward the w a m a who enter them, md the relationship bwwn t h a e more ove& h m s of tness md other factors which b a r dirwtty and indirstly on women's self-imge md eareer dwisions, rquires &at agI of these factam be set in a concepmI framework wbch em awount for them, &e way to do this is to regard the bhavior afld counter-behaviar of men and women in S.M .E. mjors as reflecting the wllision of very different saciaf system, one af which is itlfixritely more p w e h 1 than the other. A salient difference in these two system lies in the content and methods by which sucialization p r o c d s , and group membemhip is defined. W e n women first enter S.M.E. clams, they encounter two kinds of experiences, b t h of which are new and unwmfaable. m e y share one of t h m e t b e w d + u t system-with their m I e peers. They da not;, however, assign the =me m a i n @ ,to the w d - o u t experience as the men and, therefore, do atzt r ~ a n to d it ifz the sam w~ys,We hwe descriibed the cansqumces of the w d - o u t system in some debif in Chapter 3. The questions raisd here are: affats men and women differmtly; how women why the w d - o u t pro inbqret it; arrd how Efiey r q o n d to it, The other new kind of e r r p ~ e n c efor women a r i m as a csasquence of entering a social system which has bwn trditionally all-mle, This crates problem for w m e n w ~ c men h do not have to face. By exploring each of t f i kinds ~ of exphence as; our info them, we wught to clarifjy their contribution to attrition and to other difFicuXties nly experiencd by women in S.M.E. majors. theme that distinguishes the aiceounts af women and men in; is that of mpbre with past educational and mcial experience. Nowithshding the discniminatory grecollege exprrences of same women, or the doubts generat& by a generalid eulturizI discouragement from the pursuit women we encounbrexj!had enter& co1lll;ge on good high school. prfomances, good or adquate S.A.T. m r e s and a g r a t deal of encouragement and praise from high
256
Issues of Gender
schw1 hehem, f a ~ l and y ~ e n d sW , i k a relatively &art time of their e n t v who felt inblfigent, corxfident in their abilitia and pfior who b a k their warn of identity far g m t d , hegm to ra, iX1ti&&&, fO quatioa whether they "longed" the s i e n ~ e at s all md wheae-r t b ~ ywere 8 4 mough to eontkwe:4 ]It%sat bmus;e hey" rude ta the women4ough they sm sometintes--it's more th& they never oansider that you, a9 a woman, wn h ~ the e same ab%ty-and h t " Saw they t m you. h d m y h X was inwure about &at. (Female white: s~ienwswikher) Bwause I was a woman, bmedhtefy, X had a lot of tfihgs going against me t b t I didn't, at the time, understand. But I felt a lot of fmr and htimidation-&at was mUy why X switched. (Female white enginm~ngswitcher)
h compahg th&r a w e;xperimees with that of women f r e s h m ~ ,the mare s y q a a e t i c of their male p m obsemed that w m e a faced ra, loneliness wkch they did nat h v e ta expeieace: For f 2 ymm of your life you've bean ping to school, and you've had bo& women snd men p r s , so it's s ~ g l y dqrwshg just one girl to take a elass ~& 4M.3 mm. 1% mure it's ditshea&enhg for the women. (Male AsianAmiehean enghmkg swi~her) If you're one of 30 in a history semhar, and you"@ ex~hanghgideas and v p b are a s b g each other about their &ough@and opinions, it's s warn exchange; of idms, mat% one &&g. But if yortke one of two vvamen in a th&y-prson m&Isture, wbere you sit here listening to what the professor has t;o say, hardly ask any questions, go home, open the book and do the problem sets an yaur own, it's very different. (Male white escienee nons~~her) For the first time in their lives, wGte women s d d e d y expfience what it is like rity which is negativefy view& by the mjarity: It" htimidzrthg to be in a elass ~ t 97h men and just three women-at last it us& ta be: I thins I've fmally gotten used to it. (Female whiro: science nons~tcher) From the outset, they are excluded from canversstions and activities solely on the gram& of eharactesisticsWE&they ot hide, md over which they have no control. Many men are well-aware t or their peers ofien ~ e f u d h e woman in their clmm from their working or social groups simply are women: Women just can't t r d into those solid mnks of men. It may just be as s h p k ers that, It's always been male, and they" gmns keep it that way. (Naie white s~ienwnon-switcher)
There are mom women than when I fmt ~EELxted,At that time, women didn't even come into the physics lounge...They" have convermtions, and just not even listen ta what the women would say,. .It's obvious; when youke excludd from things-lke, if you can2 h a g out, and talk about your field with equals, then you're going to feel I& out-and youke gonna want b just lmve, (Male white. scimee non-swikher)
B w a w af the unfarnxiliarity of this e x p ~ e n w md , h a u s e they lack conact vvith mnior women who uadammd the nahure md souree of their problems, first-year w a m n find it difficult to make s;ense of their discomfod: I n d to feel like there" sornmne there shafing it with me. I doo't want to fwl so alone, I live far from home and I've felt very isolated,..Your phone has get outragmus, calling your friends once a week.. .I think the major thing is, it geb you down., .And if you get Bow about something, it snawbatls bmause youke no one to talk ta, That's when you get to the point of, 'Mak am f doing here?"Female white science switelrer) I grew up with four siskrs and a strong mother, and 1" u3u;aed to having someone show mme undemhding, listen and take an interest in me. And 1 had friends barek home whom I'd dEc to. Here, Ike abase nobody. (Female white science nctn-switcher)
I thhk prhaps the worst thing is, it's lonely. Bmause you don't have the support that you get from hllcing to women,..Vou have to get your fhencfs somewhere else beeause there arc: so few women. But we are all too busy either to get tog&her, or to find women friends from ather majors, (Female whits: engineering non-switcher) Pew had r m i v d m y p i b e e a b u t wbat ts expect, md how to sumive. They lmked a f e m l e folklore o R e ~ n gr d y e explmations or remdies for their difficulties, md most had little h o w l d g e or awepknw of the analytical framework o f f e r 4 by feminist theoq, In short, they were inexpfiencd X8 ymr+lds who bnd& to blame t en people bhaved disapprovingly bwards them. Receiving what ely view& as adquate, or eveill gmd, g r d far ~ their cfami.ses f ilwlf, sufficient to prevent what y refemd to as fwling "i n t i ~ d t i r t d "and ""discoumg&":
I was very intimidatd. In my study group far the d s m , they were mostXy guys. They were actually very helpful to me, but X always fek they were teaching or tutofing me, And that was discoumging, (Pentage Asian-Anrtehean enginering switeher) Half of the women drop@ out of the physics squence a k r the first class, f m a n , half of &em. I went on to the saond semester, and most of the remaining women left, X vvas the only woman who hished the sequence. I think they were just diseaumg&, (Female Asian-American engineer-ing switcher)
One rwmn why it is so diecult to take awaunts either of a c a d e ~ c problem or inistitutioeal r m r d s indicating lower grades at face value is prwisely h a u s e what a t y m m like an adqwte, or even g&, p to an objective obsemer, is not nwesmriiy swn as ' p o d enough-by the herwlf, Without h o w k g why WO thers) m y h unable to defi work as "god enough', it is mmingfut comwtions beWwn d subquent sbdent actions, such as switching. One digxcufty w m e n expefience in d e h i n g their perfa task is their iwlation, Without a supprt: network of people with mre: experieam, it is ~y for w h of them to assume that they alone are stmggling: Xn the first three days of the class, I was really discouragd bwause the tmeher was hard to fotoUow, And 1 felt all the other studenk in the class understood what was going on bdter than 1 did. i fmalfy got a B in that chss. But X felt I was working as hard as I could, and not doing as we11 as I should. I felt overwhelm& that there were so many other p p l e who seem& so mueh beger p r q a r d than I was, M y was 1 even trying to be an enginmr? (Female white enginwkg switcher)
With hidsight, senior women bad a clarer undershnding of what they had eneounterd, and why t h q resgaxldd as they did: I wish we could find a way for women who are coming in to make them feel more secure, or to bolster that feeiing of i n d ~ n d e n m and self-wafih thilt so few af us have, (fimale white enginwring non-swit-cher) Most girls take it to h a d , and guys are like, 'Oh, yeah! I don't need to fisten to you,-Girls say, Waybe theyye right.' They are more apt to make something into a criticism. A guy would just blow it off, X'rn not good at blowing things off. ff: take it personally. I'm hurt. (Female white engineering non-switcher) W a t scares me is geaing in 18 year-old girls who have no idea how to defend themselves. I've had to I a r n the hard way, If yaukre going to be a good student, yoube got to be sound; youkvc: got to be sbble; and you've got to be secure. To get more good women students graduating, we%e got to help prepare them emotionaiiy, as well as mentally, for what they arc: going to have to face. (Female white enginmring non-switcher)
To understand just why women do not develop sufficient independence to discount hostility and deflect attacks upon their feelings of self-worth, requires mm@examination of differences in gender socialization. We posit that entry to freshmm scienw, malhematics or enginwdng suddmly m&es explicit, and thm heightens, what is ac[ually a long-standing divergence in the socialization experiences of young men and women. The divergence in self-perceptions, attitudes, life and career goals, customary ways of learning, and of responding to problems that have been built up along gender lines throughout childhood and
uddedy brought into faem, and into praetieal significrmce, W s young men asld wamn of all ethnicities are entering an d u c a t i d system which has evolved .to m p p d the ongoing socializatian prmess of only one graupnamely, white males. The a m t i a l oppsitian bwwn turo categories embsdded in the traditional gender-rule sysbm has cansquaees for at1 students and faculty. It w u m when a relatively small number of inexperienced young women are encouraged (with preparation in the cultural and personal dimensions of their ) to venture into an i n s t i ~ t i o n a l i d national Wmibly international) w~cb has evalveA over a long time pfiod as m ung men into the adult fraternities of science, mthematies and engineering, Most young white men seem able to rmognim and respond to the unwritten rules of this adult male social system. The mles are farnifiar bsause they are consistent with, and art: an extension of, traditional a l e n o r m that w r e establish4 by parents, m d which have been reinfore& ducation, spnds, m d social by male duffs and peers through found in the ducation a d life. Broadly, the =me set of n s and professions, including the g s y s b m u d by with which young men &just is variable; however, the nature g is at l e s t fanailiar. h d d , the l a m & ability of male students to rwo*m m d rewand appropriately ta thew gender-role n o r m swm to trmseend national bundaries, For example, at one institut:ion which regularly attrwts sturtents from Noway, a Nowegian w m n in our sarnple t& on the ease with which her m f e Nowegian peers s w m d to &just to their e n g i n w ~ n gand a i e n w mjors. She mntrasted this with her own diffieuities in d~velopinga sense; of belonging in her mjor-a difficulty which she s h a r d with Amehcan women: I h the t h ~ dMowegian girl theykvc:had in the department. The &rstone there had to go and see a rrklPink. She eaukln? take it any more. The seeond one m o v d to applid math, And I went through something Iike that-but so did the American gkls-we just didn%fit in.. .And yet, &kingto the Nowegian guys, it seemed just nothing-it was all tatally natural for them. Nane of them could see the problems. They &ought it; was US women making up funny ideas. (Female white enginwring non-switcher)
t element which is redolent in the rhetoric of trslcfitilranal male education is the: idea that y should be kbaXXtrngdeRaising to mwt the faculty's challenge is an t facet of the w d - o u t tradition. Moml chalEenges are atso found in other a c a d e ~ cdisciplines: in rniXitary training, sports coaching and in the educational system of traditionally m a l e - d a ~ n a t d professions such as taw and medicine, The mehphor of challenge is a central y ritm of pasmge into mnhosd: the boy is chaillengd to test his mettle against that of the eshbltshd acfult mies who mt hurdles for him to
2S;O
Issues of Gender
iaitellw-l, h that it is intended to strms, pain, or huffliliationwith af nu*&g, young m l l j ~a r ~ strength, and ouhard to b n d Yomg r n mmt ~ demonstrate depndenw srx n a m ~ dgu l
itially as m apprentiw, is as much moral as it is the ability of yoang men ta tolerate f%ontrol. By a delibmte denial that they have left k f i n d their
ty. We p s i t that t h w h e t i o n of the w d + u t sysbm in the first two se who have p r w d u a q w l to the challenge have k n w d e h out, faculty m b g i n mentoing am for hem within their fmbmity. Some womn notice th gy of same S.M.E. faculily m m more difficult thm it itcwlly is. This d w not mnstitute my pafiicular problem for women, but they intewret sucb mystification Oprobably eonwtly) as part of the way that faculty build up the mystique of a diseiplilae tKhich can be revmled onty to a initiaM 6liljte: t l&-t
The 6fitist male aaitude eomes up in the way the subjeet matbp is present&, 'They m&e 2, seem like what they%ret a c h h g 'Is very, very e s o t e f i ~ w v e nif it's only Math X 10. Them% sn r w o n to complicate things, but they act rike what they" tteackkg is very swret, and youSre gonna have to be a genius to understand it. And the T.A,s copy their style. h d anyone who is easily intbidated will be &mm, even if they" quite eapab'fe of teaming it. (Female white enginwfing s ~ t c h e r )
None of this is essentidfy or exelusively m intelleeWf prseess, although it xnay, with bonesty, be pmeiverl as such. Those who operate within any social system are not nee~sarilyaware af its t;u.nctionaf or dysfunctional consqumces. Pwple m y be honombly engagd withi one set of deelard sbjeetiva, while perpetuating mother, less overt, agenda. The process may be partly or wholly obscure to those who prpe-te it, h a w e they too have been s o c i a l i d in this r, and therefare, s a m e it is the most logical way to ensure that only the est sum!ve,s If women are going to sunrive and bond indepndmtly to science aad science wrwm, they must djust Irr a system of kaowldge. beking prior expriace of the eduati encounter on entry to S.M.E. mjors, women do them, or hovv to respond appropriably, The system is aehLafly not intended for in which they were taught to them, It does not relate to the (di w G ~ btheir sociafizration has learn, nor to the mdeXs of adult encouragd thern to emulate. The women selasc: (quite rmlisticatly) that it is vary
sre not wefwme t.o participate; 'mle"; that it dcm not apply to tbeao; that in it; that men would prefer to exeludt: them frm its agenda and its rimls; and that their p r w n w is wmidered ixltrusive, a d is SGien~eis a wanderfug example of how men just have their own little world-just men, and m m % ways, and men's cxlnwnts, and men%sinking. [Female whib hscienee skwher]
A young man has a mueh asier the-just by v ~ u of e being smn as more capable, md bmum he%gonm have m enthly difkrent 8ocial and pemonal expfieam hfie would if he W= one a fw af his o m wx in a world cmw entkly for the o&er sex, p m a l e white enginwring s*t~her) No one wuXd tell me where the bahroom was, I'd never been in the buifdhg before. Them were no women in my lab. There were no women an the floor whem I was. I waged for pmbtlbly 20 minutes, and it turned out it W= two floors d o w , (Female white science non-switcher) We were bo& rm1 malR and science-oriead, We always loved it. But it wasn" enough. A large parl of the dwision to just get out was just fwling that guys an: sociatXy p q a d for this, and &at girls just don" t o w enough &out this warid to sumlive h it. (Female white enghwhng swit~her) trmt women in 'their' -jars
wit-h which wme fsulty m d m be expfahed in t h w inappr~priakas it would b at my other male
hitiaition rite,& Nomithsmding the hostile bhaviar of some faculty, mast young W id not fwl that the: mjasity of S.M.E. faculty traed women in 8 which W= very different from that in which they t r m M young men.. Hawever, in tratieg male; mad f e m l e shdents altfike, faculty are;, in eRwt, trwting women in ways that are und(~:fstood by the men, but not by the women. Par example, by khallengingkveryone in the class to 'prove" inms by s a d i n g up ta the harsh- of their W b g methods, euieulum pace: and stud faculty are mnding out a ge to the f e m l e minority, Faculty are unwittingly dimuraghg w o m n more than men by behavior wEcb 3s a ~ h l l the; y =me for bath. men snd wome;ne However, women do not h o w why they are bekg t r a t d ia this wgy and do not h a w bow to m p n d apprapfiately, From a foeus group af female engiaeefing wniors: Male profwsctrs &=-I don? t o w what the right word to use is-rude? You bow, thr=yke at;&lekhgand aggrmsive,
Yeah*'They don" encourage you. They a c k you. However, it's sot just the women: they attaek everyone.
262
Issues of Gender
m a t % tme-&ey are jjut as awkl to men. But I" say most women mspond poorly to it-so do some men-but X &ink most men find it easier to just blow it off. W e n I was B freshman, I felt they wem t q b g to g& eveqbody o ly the wonxm, mey don't omen in there. And when you and see how we11 theyke s g, you start to th* maybe you shouldn't be &em either, But it s w m d like the men saw that as mare of et, challengeethat theyke gonna be one of the p p l e that stieks it out-wh3e I saw it just as a thrmt.
n o s e young women who rise to mwt the challenp i n b n d d far young men by showing ability9comptenee, or moral strength under pressure, risk (as illustrated) a negative r e s p m from their peers. We p s i t that much af the hostility of mXe pwrs, a d of some faculty, which female shdents m women uhowingly contradict sterwtypes a b u t aperienm, a ~ when the femle-otber, whose fiznction is to h d p men define themsefves as ultine" FemIe S, M ,E, sbdents who are conspicuous1y suwssfbl ot win wiZhout loskg'. is the m-ing of the metarphor of 'cehalfenge%toCally obscure to femfe sbdents, SO too are other elements in the tmditionaf male dueation& p r m s s , The idea of "pfoving yourwlr by sanding up to the w d - o u t system is i m p m t in establishing the claim to duEt mscufine s b h s in t b m diseiptines. It has no m m i n g for womn, but they find ly reproached, either for atbmpting (inapproprisjttely ) to or for k i n g unable to mmt a challenge which is relevmt only to men. From a foeus group of women science seniors: You just feel so ovemkelmecf that you have to prove yourself to the men. The women who walk up and get the awards, they rsarn it as far as Xm ' coneemd-just for proving they can make it in a maledaminat& world. The proving prowss goes on and on. It Eakes y a r s . I still fee1 like I'm battling the whole male ego. 1 t h it gets ~ easier a&er you%ve had a few classes from the same professors and they get to know you, and see you around, and know what you Ye willing to put in. It's an uphil battle to skrt with. But it seemed you dicfnt thav to fight as mueh the further you got on, bwause youke proven youke not going to quit now, it's s o r e intense, m e y have more of a focus which includes not letting anyone g& in their way, I h not going to waste any more of my time proving myself. I know who f am, and what X can do,
t is particularly insightful, She has come to 'The last sp&er% so undershad that "roving yourself", while m appropriate f o m of genderdefining activity for men, is risky a d inappropriate -FOr women. To be
d r a w into it is to eau& m i e t y , inmurig, m d confirsion &out the b a i s of one% a m s n s e of self as a WO of the mile testing process. It Competing for grades is mother has rregati baa d m n , though not necwsrily tition is a b u t Wiming" wGch is the most far the sa traditionat way of placing individwl m m within m l e prwtige and r a h g system, It is a ceatfsl fmture of a11 military, politie~land eeonornie activity and is metaphorically reprwnted in sports atcl gaanes ofipinally develo* by men, As women incrwingly kvolve th a r a of mtivity, s o w adopt the comptitive imprative and learn how to compete in m1 Men are often not comfombte with this. Xt is their gam, md there is no place in their prestige system for a woman who competes suecessfufly with them, Same women seek to change ccrmptitive sacial system by inte4txting elements of wumen" traditional ways of worfing which are more collaborative and s u p d i v e of o&ers. How sixwily the women who enter S . M . E . mjors adapt to the competitive way in which their euhculunn is praented, a d their comprehension is assesjd, will depend an the degree to which they have atrwdy accept& wmpetitiion as a way of rei&hg to others in high school, ar in. sports and games: One of the female physics majors in our gnduating class is fiercely corngetitive. She is at the top of the class, She's iincrdibly smatt, and she is extremely standlaffmh. She won%share her infamation with anyone else. (Male white s c i e n ~ enon-switcher)
is swn as exceptional by her m n i ~ rmale peers, The fact &at this WO undlermres our absemation that most women dislike a d avoid the of leambg they encounbr in S.M.E. mjors. As the above extract J s o illustraw, women who compete well are not accord& the saw r w p s t that i). sidlarly competitive m n would rseive, Neither are they respeete*d by women, who tend to see competitive women as being "just sts bad as the menM: X refuse to participate in e-omFitive activities, ]It. makes me very uneornforlable. I've stopged doing homework with her rmently bwause she s & ~ & making it ingo a earnpetition. She got angry one time bwause I did better than her on the homework, so I broke off working with her, It makes me very angv to have sameane wanting to w m p e k with me. (Female white scimee non-s~t~hec)
Generally, women do not find comptition a mmingfuf way to rweive: feedback on their ievel of unders-ding. n o s e who remin in S.M.E. mjors continue to find the competitive approach to lmming offensive a d resist it:
thhg, but I didn" shkher)
SW
, md *ay ly got good gradm and eveqany h t e m t in comFitian. (Female whik science
X see a lot more af the mea in my ~ h behg s eomwitive than the women. Tke w m e n WO&& hard, bat they w e m %h % m t d in b a t k g anyone on the
eurve. m a l e white seienw non-s~kher)
Men am always e o m F h g , and wmting t_o be better than aU the w t . Like when they play baskdaU1, and them%s &i ent, Ihey do a pfay-over or a do-again. It's Iike &ey have to r d o the whole tfijng to eskblish who won, t women, or who was fi&t, or fmt. M e r a s , if there" s d i m ~ m m mamong they will b d of drop it and forga about it. It'ss, %et's s a v e on, but shy together."ere% s a m of a connection and a unity b w w n women. mat's fi&t. Women will say gmde; it's jjut a quiz." And you don't
SW that
tx,
each other, W& don't
wm about the
b m m n men, and you don" get it fmm men either.
My lab partner is a nnan, and be% always t e h g me I should work harder to get rid of those stupid nxb*es so X a n get stmight As-instad of just acceptkg my Bs, f th* he's genuinely trying to help me, ts h d i ~ f ~ m~f h , worn= prefer not to laming hrm& into a eomptitive activity-hdd, they bnd ta view comvtition as gettkg in the way, both of good l a m k g aid of good collegial dationsfiips: There; are study groups, but d e n it comes d o w to the test, eveqbody br&s up. It's hush, hush-if you fmd out this shofi+ut on a problm, you 're mreful who you share it vvith--maybe no one. And it" aall on S&, and the pmblems are b d of devious to tmp you, And it" on a W e r curve, so youke piad against the others, It's made it hard to W& tog&er. Even in study groups there" scomFition and s n d h e s s . I always used to try to bridge that gap, But somethes I felt from the way the men r a c M thg I was bekg too helpful-@vhg away answem, X dunno, In my humanities classes, we drill each ather and try to help -eh other out. I t h f i &at's a vefy big difference b e w s n how women and m m feel about cornwition. (Fmale white e n & w ~ n g non-s~tcher)
encourage study group g, women w ~ i o r sW the d o ~ n m tcomptitive ethos w ~ c hpi&
Xe they value the attempts of mm@ depafiments
collaborative or dis~ursi The comptition m&eg it impssible to have class discussions, There can't be that g i v e a n d - ~ ewhich helps you ekrify things, and improves your understatnding, Et's either, 'You g& it, or you don't.-Female white seienee non-switcher)
lpJuesof Gender
265
talking out in class-just It's M) diikrmt in my art c h . There's feeling like they can talk to the teacher. In engineering, it's all cut and dried, and you just sit at the back, and you're on your own, and take now. And you don't tak to people+there*rthis 'don't work together' attitude. It's just silly. (Female white engineering switcher)
Many male studeats also disliked competitive g1situations, felt that they did not do their best work in a competitive ethos, or saw the counter-productive effects of competitioa on p e r f m c e and level of confidence. Although both m. and womea cited competition in their major as a &tor in their switching decisions, it is our contention that they did so for different, gender-related reasons. By their long socialization into the meaning of winning and losing, men-even those men who disapprove of competition as an educational tool--cannot escape the imputationof 'failure' mewed for men who do poorly in a competitive system. Competition is a problem for men because if they do not compete successfully, they risk beiig defined (and worse, of defining themlves) as 'failurn' (that is, as 'boys', rather than as 'men'). Competition is, therefore a very powerful way to motivate young men to work hard, because they cannot avoid application of the failure label. It may or may not bs a good way to motivate young women, depending on the degree to which they have absorbed the win-lose dichotomy as a way to define themselves. However, what motivates most young women is neither the desire to win, nor the fear of failure in a competition with men, but the desire to receive praise: It seems like a tot of times when women want to do something, it's like for praise. I can recall as far back as sixth grade when we had math contests.. .The giris enjoyed the praise they got from being fust, but the boys liked the competition-just betwaen each other-just wanting to better the others. So they worked on theii own more. The girls seaned kinda more inclined to work together to complete the job rnorc...And it's still that way among enginters. (Female white engineering non-switcher)
To understand the source and consequeuces of this and other motivationalfactors which bear exclusively on women, and to understand why the self-confidence of S.M.E. fresh(wo)men is so fragile, we must compare and contrast some d e n t featwes of women's and men's socializatioa experiences.
What Women Seek and May Not Find in S.M.E. Mqjors What young women bring to their experience of S.M.E. disciplines is a pattern of socialization that is entirely different from that of young men. Many aspects of S.M.E. majors, which have evolved largely to meet the educational needs of young men, force women into conflict with their own socialization experiences. The resolution of these conflicts is sometimes accomplished by
lwving the major and sometixnes by w k h g perwnal adjustments to the doruinanit male mcial syskm. n e s e &,justments tend to be psychologie-atlly u ~ c a m f o a b l eand wme coping strategies provoke disqproval fram other women, nmXe p r s , a r both. ng, men ci?xpri@nwa life-long prasure to develop and wnse af self-wodh, to reswnd to challenge with displays sf seifisufticiency and stoicism, m d to show kdepndenw from the n e d for n~rhrnng.By contrast, the wialimtion of most young women fbxleXuding their f ducation) encourages the developmeat of a more extrinsic mnse of identity, From early c f i l d h d , througbut the ymrs of fo are encouraged to perfom for the approval of others, and to attach confidence and df-worth to sigms (such as praise) that others are p what they do, The degree b which any w o m n depend-s an s i p i f cant others lFar her sense of achievement varies (as illustratd in many women" saccounts) according to the xnix of cultural influences which have bwn part of her smialimtion experience. The tendency to perform for others is not genderexclusive: depending on the circurnstmces of their upbringing and education, young men m y (as we found) also e&ibit this trait, tian were clwrly e m b d d d The con'wqut3Rce;s af t h w pat ption-that of black women. in most women% sacounts, with one i encourages the development "JXs group reflwted a pattern of sneia of hdependencr: in self-image and carmr-choice, and of wlf-reliance md assertiveness in getting ducational n d s met. This group was distinctively imer-dirwted and d e t e d n e d , compard both with most other women, m$: with most btack men, Black women" ddrive to s u c c d and their indepndenc-wen sources of advice md support was reflwted both in isolation- from in the obsewations of other sfudents, Evidenw of a pattern of p r f o r ~ x l gfor others, and of the consequences af this behavior for attrition, a p p a r in several a s p t s of our b t a on wolnen. As alrady diwussd in Chapter 2, mmy more women than men chose S.X\/I-E. m j o r s h a u s e t h q were promotd by f a ~ t y tachers, , or other mentors, ing rather than from personal iatermt in rt particular dixipline or c=nrwre7 an academic direction primrily ta please somwme else is an aceo ion s an S. &I.E. m j o r , and which, we flourzd, did not hold up tltr~uglkthe ~ g o r of m d e swdents more vuherable to the attractions of other fields of study. In Chapter 3, we contrast& the ino1-r: instntn~entalapproach to ducation among young men in these m j o r s with an srffeetive orienhtion alllong m n y young women, The dichotomy appears in our data in a number of forms. It arises in menvs and women's (different) r w o n s for disliking larrge classes, Generally, class size ww smn as a problem only indirectly in that it e r a t 4 or macexbat4 othex probIems, Men disliked lasge classes because they "have negative e f f ~ t on s grades, " they encourage "mare conlptition for grades, and k a u w "introductory courses are uswlly kugkrt by less qualifierl. faculty."
Issues cf G e d e r
267
Women found the: size of classes problemtic when ""yu don? get to b o w the professor," "it's too impersonal," "the professor doesn't care if you learn or , shod, "the professor down" tare a b u t you." From this, attend c l ~ s , ~ - i f in we dduted that more women thm men a ~ v e in d college with the expshtion of mablishing a personal relatioraship with faculty. We also found this expectation embedded in the different definitions of ' g d ' and 'bad' teachers offer& by m l e and fenraIe students. Women more often than men stress& the ce of a teacher's permnaf behwior toward them, and definwf the %ad' "unapproachable, " "impersonal" and "intimidating. " 'Good' teachers ," "interesd in bow you " "aim," "fIliendly, " " were @approachable, ,"are "around all the time, respnd, " """pe*nt the subject in a fr-iendly them to explain the material" and "won't take your head off." so you can They Iiked professors who "wanted ta get to know you as a persan," "trreatd you niceiy," '"understood you're a humm being who" sworking at getting good grades," "calm you down and say, 'Don't v v o q if you don't get it, 1 em show you haw"$ a d who "really care about you, and want you to learn. " Men were less concerned with ai t a h e r k apemess to contaet with sbdents thm with their effwtivmess in prmentation of the mteriaf. The 'ggond" profesor is "enthwsiastic, " "interesting," "hn to listen to, "' am ""explain well, " "be entexbining," "'gives good advise," ""urns gwd analogies,"' "stmms application af the =aerial: by relating it to real fife sitwtions," "provides in-elass dem~nstrations," ""aflows questions," " h o w s whether the students comprehend," ""desaYjust copy the b d onto the bard," "("putsit in layman's Imguage a d goes over it in other terms," ""challengesand motivates meMand "fforce~students to work hard." We argue that it is bmause they are r a i d to work more for the appmval of others than for intrinsic satisfactions and goals, that so many wornm fail to develop a clear personal view of what tfiq wmt out of coElege before they anrrve, This also explains why the opemess of teachws ta the personal approaches of their shdents is so central to women" definitions of the 'good" tmcher. For m n y women enbring college, mgaging the twcher in a personal dialogue a p m r s to be critical to the m e with which they can tarn and to their level of coxrfidenw in the adqwcy of their perfomanm. We posit that the thwading af studentsbtteqts to draw S.M.E. faculty into a more personal Wagogieai relationship thm faculity are prepard to offer (whether as tmchers or advisors), m k e s a m j o r contribution to women's decisions to leave these mjors. We base this asse~ionon strong texmX evidence that faiIwre to eslablish. a p w m a l relationship with faculty represeats a major toss to women, and b d 4 , to aff shdents who= high school b c h e r s gave them considerable personal attention and who foster& their pokntial. The abrupt withdrawal of a spsial tmher-lamer relationship, and it's replacement with the ""ipersonatity" of college classes was reported to be extremely disorienting:@
X don't t a he look& favacably towards women in his calculus clas. I went in seveml t h e s for help. I guess f e x p t v p l e to be kind, warn, thoughthl
aind helphl, and, you h o w , they%@not, So l had to w&e up. (Female white s~ienees ~ t e h e r ) If a wornan g& into one of these mjom, there's no one &em for &em to =late to. me=% nno one %em b r you, (Female white scienw switcher} It's harder for women than for men to handle the situation where the tm~her doesn" h o w y o u - a p h @ y a h r behg s p i a f and gmhg lots of aaention in high school. How p p l e g& over *at varies. f think I had begun to adjust before X came here, md the hprsonagty didn't bother me, If you can't adjust, then chances are you'll get out and Iook for that atlention elsewhere. (Female whik enginmfing non-swit;chc=r) You h o w that not everyone has a one-on-one relationshipwith the tacher,. .so just bmause he doesn" know you personally, cioesn" t m n he ~ ~ t u a fthinks ly less of you. Female white engkee&g non-skkher)
In one ehss, I w s the only woman, and fhe professor said, 'Oh, 1% remember your name.%And he did. h d in a class of 300, it was comfof)artingfor me to have someone bow who I was and maybe feel that he c a r d a little. f don't hear &at from any of the men I have etass@ with. f don%know if they could care; Iws about things like that. (Female white: engineering non-gwitcher)
Three of t h a e women sumived: WO of them bad L~medto need the b c h e r papil relationsGp less, mdlor M actively mugbt alternative ~lrxrcesof suppad; the tErd eonlinud to need a s n s e of comeetion with her Wchers, but wm able to pmist by dmwixlg csdort: h x n very sm1X amounh of pekmnal attention. mether ar not women at risk of wikhing m evoke sufficient prsonal supgo& fram faculty to keep p i n g wnns highly wendipitous. The foilowing W o worn= were unable to get the attention they n d & md left: They"re not o p to anyone. m e y always have of6m hours, but if they answer your qumtions, they just sort of shave you aside and don" rmfly want to btk to you. You feel thnrst away ...it%just tike they're not v e q open to students at aU. (Pemfe white engineering switcher) W e n l went JR to get advising, it swmed he didn? see me as a person. There was no in&raet;ion b e w w n us, p ~ o d W , e n you get to thd p i n t where youke panicking, hen you don't f"1 like you have anyone to turn to. (Female whik scienee swikher)
n e s s obmmations t h r w light on the r ~ u n e n tfiading of lwered confidmce a d s e l f e b m n o t 4 in ather studiesi. A femfe shrdent whose confidence in her ability is over-dependent on the judgmenb of others finds it difficult to judge the adeqrtacy of her parfo me. Her m l f + ~ n f i d e nm ~y a l r d y be sh&m by her abrupt redvetion in status: in high scfioot, she wm tmled as s ~ i a l n; w , she is part of an unwlcome minority which is treatted
ew college tachers, La whom she with a IhostiXiV that with the unwu& l m h for d b m , a g d , bad, or av -test whem no arm mm m, The w n q u e n c e is confusion, m i e t y and a strong =me of abmdonmeat: The avemge: of all our exams are in the &Is, so if the:men in the class get a C, hey" happy. If women get a C, rhrl.yk uupsa, They thhk the tacher cltaesn" think & e y b my a n y g o d .And hey h e up oubide his door tryhg to get him to expbh it, or &If them Ul&% it's rally okay, I that" a vvtlaPy difftcuit &hg for women to get over at f ~ s t ,(Female white engineering nonswitcher) Some of my girlffiends and I used to take it rm1Ey hard when we di8n't smm to do so well, you b o w , hiring tubrs and just s t m ~ K n gand crying over gmda-g-hg out old tesb and working extm problems, and m&ng Bash cards, and just w o r h g errtm, extra hard, And it was all bwaust;, as hard as we tfieci, we just muld not swm to plaase the profasors. We were just loo&ng for some encouragement, ..I used to get nauseatecl before exams, It took me a long t h e to get over that. I'd go to thempy s~ssionsand take a n ~ classes,. q ,Eventwlly, I Imnted not to U e it to h a & , It's not you &eykrcr:grading: it's j just your work-smd not always thd. Men just bbw it off. (Female white mathematics non-switcher] You" look round the room before the exam, and the gkls would be all sifent and swatkg, And the guys-well, some would be a f f a t d too-but mast of thern wufd be t a b g about f~atbaU,or where they were going that night. were just w&-(ltut cXasses, and they weren" tooking They undersbod for et pat on the back, (Female white maaematies non-switeher)
is a d q m t e QT g&, women who have an underdeveloped s n m of their abilities in =themtics a r s i m e e havs difficulty in h a w k g &at they are "dokg ohy" without the tacher's rmsurmce. Tmcherctepndent s M e n t s (wheaer women or men) draw upon the feeling that the t w h e r car@ abut them as a way to motivate themelves, m e y work hard in order to p l m e their -her md use the tmchm% ppralse m d encoumgement as the bmis for their s e X f + s ~ m ,Deprived of that exehmge, ce-inty & h u t selfin-sience is Xost until the relationship is reconstmcted with another supprtive tacher, or a mare iaidepdent self-concept is developed, Non-switching seniors also described how dificuXt it had ibeexl far thern to forego the high level of intemctia~and eh they bad b e n accustom& throughout their to develop m independent sense of their a w ability and progress had k a i vital to their survival: Even. when their perfo
One =son I did well in high sehoat is bwause 8 c a r d about what the teachers thought about me. I knew I w s doing w H when people weri plased with me. I was always 1oo;king for that praise just so f h e w E was doing okay. It took
2 70
Issues gf Gender
me a long time to g& aver that when I eame to college. I used to get, very upset bmsuse, here, the Wcher doesn" know who you are...Now I love just knowing that f am doing well-but that's not how f out. (Female white engineeFi.ng svvitcher)
We not& that women consistently chose the word 'discouragement' to toescfit>st their ractisn la the expekence of w d - o u t elmes, and espeeiaily ta faculty's rehsaf to interact witb them m individ-1 fmmerg: It% tefible. It's diseoumghg. Xt sum dtl;esn%help your confidence any. it's bad enough going into this huge freshman physics class with just two other women and a whole roomful of men who are- looking you over with a hostile stare, You think, Maybe X shouldn" be here, X n d then the teacher tells you that he's gonna fail half of you, So you think, W y should I try if it's that sacked against me?"Female white enginadng switcher)
It discourages ~ p I who e may not have faith in themselves, but who may be very good. It eame very close to discouraging me. But they do so much to tell you that, 'You don" have the bazkground. Youke not working hard. enough. h d if youPre not gonna join in this crazy cut-throat pre-m& frenzy, then youke not gonna make it.' They don't do anything to encourage you. Maybe they Ye testing you to see how ammitted you are. But it rmlly doesn't make any sense to me, (Female white science non-switcher) They try to seare you, Maybe they think &at% how reverse psychobgy works, and that it will m&e you work harder. But you're too fragile; there's alrmdy too much pressure from morn and dad. I don't do my best in harsh envirsnmenh: f e m push myself, 1 don't n d stern tachers beating up an me. (Female white e n g h e e ~ n gnon-switcher) A lot of gmple were so discouragd after that class that they left. 1 gat a Cand kept going for a while. I ended up getthg mostly Bs and AYin my other math classes. I think they could figure out a different way. Xt discourages a tot of peaple wha could still go on. 1; thhk a Iot of those pwgle have the ability, but they just fee1 so bad about themselvives. (Female white engi:ine;er-ingswitzher)
Their attitude is that they don't eexpwt you to make it through. Xt's very discouraging. You know they don't tnmurage you to do your best. I felt they were telling me, "No, you san3 t o it. Vouke not going to make itayFemale mathematics non-switcher)
I guess a ilot of it would be n d i n g more personal contact, It's sso discouraging and frustrating. 1 wish they act& more like they rwlly want& you there-to come ;m$ l a m something h m them. (Female white engineering nonswitcher)
Young women who are looking for 'en'-coumgement to bolster their selfconfidence, but who c m a t evoke it. from faculty tend to fwl "is'-couragd even though faculty may have said nothing negative to them. There is no neutral ground: failure to enwurage is a e n as discoumgement:
After the positive infiluenees m d positive rehforcements in high school, you fwl on top of the w r l d and that you ean do anfihing, Then you get into an e n t h l y new system. I n o t i d a marked difference in my a~itude.And f CreEeve it was bailuse of the faet I was a number and nothing else to anyone ...I had no one to p r f o m for-and probably many other women are so used to bc=lngp r f o m e m for otherrs-that you take that away and you're leR with a void, h d at the time, I didn" r a l l y h a w it was that. The classes I do best in are the ones where the professor a c e s about me, and its alvvays becn that sinpte for me. I cannot seprate my fmfings for the professor fmm my prfomance. (Female vvhite seienee s ~ t c h e r )
Depending on motivation, constitutes a serious handicap for tfi and m the bas women who enbr college having l a m 4 haw to Earn in this &at persisknee initiatives that do not take this into account simply will not be effwtive, As same of t h w spmkers indicab, looking to a tea~her for inbrprebtian and valihtion of their a c a d e ~ epedo ce is a teamed dependence, which people cm chmge or out-grow, but not without first expe.fienchg mxiety md fmstmtion which, for some, ends in switching. To a much higher degree thm is the for young men, preserving the selfconfidence which young women bring inta college depends on priodie reinforcement by teachem, To be f x e d with the prospect of four y a r s of isolation and male hostility on the one band, m d the abrupt withdrawaf of f a ~ l i aw r u r w of pmise, by faculty an the of self-wnfidmce It was hard for them to understand my fwlings baause most bays that go inta enginwring, if they have problems, they don't say. They just struggle thmugh it. I've swn that girls w o y a lot more, and go to their professors right away, And for my girlfriend and myself, it was mostly that lack of confidence thing-not sure we wouM be able t;cz m&e it. The third year, when X hit the real ehemieal; enginmfing etasses, they rally f g g h k n d me. And I didn't know how I would m&e it through. Looking back, E eould have done it, 1 think it was mostly lack of eanfidence, (Female white enginwring switcher)
The women speculated wby it was that their professors (including, to their di~ppoixltmenl,some fernate professors) were so resishnt to their ef'forts to engage them in a personal o g i ~ a lrefationship. From a focus group of women erxgiawfing switchem: The teachers I filced were the ones who sperke clertrly and in an organized manner, but who also trated me with respect. when 1 went to tak to them prsonaXXy, who acknowledgd my question, or even my presence. That was a big one, Getting them to look up from their desk.
lsstres of Gender
2712
Intemiewer: m a t " going on there; do you think? Oh, theyke =inforcing the hostile mmsage that I" quite a k a .
not welcome, I've felt that
Interviewer: Toward women, or aU students? Women-well,
to some degrw all studenh-but more toward women.
Intenriewer: Perhaps they"
jjust not us& to ucomen.
me-ykused to them.
But they don't t e them. So it's a kn i kn i d of cautious dismurzlgement. They want to eneoumge us by discouragement, to go baek to our place in the home, or in the helping professions. "I'hat was defmitety one of ~ e p m faetam h f at took me out of enginehg. X felt so much discouragement from so many members of the faculty. Xf they did bother to talk to me, &e;y would eounsel me to b c h grade school m&h-nothing with arty au&ofity, And the joke is, I wasn't failing out. They knew I had more than a 3.0. 1 wasn" tookislg for a way out, mat% sot what I went to talk: to them about. It was just their idea of .wlhere I'd be brztter suited, That's sght, There" a lot of active discourrigement-just by denying you suppn. And they h a w what theyke doing, They kvt:had plenty of women in the dqaement, They just h o w this work m1 well in n&ing women think about iaving.
Faculty m y or m y not rmliza the exitiml role which they play in the p n i s b n w of women, b t h as a source of onping supprli and at t i m a of chsis, Mmy w o m n offer& 'fork-in-the-roads s b ~ e sirx which, having into depression, eonhsian md unwminty, they fought the eounwi a b u t whether t h q should ar should not antha@. They were meat of their abitity a d p d o prepard to acwpt their profmmr 'S that suggested be or she c a r d aae so fang as this was rzanveyed ixx a ribing a chti-f time when they felt way or mother a'bout their well-bei ble to tmst their o m judgment a b u t their ability to continue, seniorr; r m u n u the vital diRerenee m d e to their dwision to stay by expressions of mpp& from. fwufty wham they consult&: I got lucky: f h ~ an d advisor who said, 'Don%w o w about it, It will get better in the higher elasses. W e says he" bwa teXling them for y a m that this doesn't work ~ 5 t hgirls like it does with boys, You don't have much sdfeonfrdence to begin with, and it just blows what's left away. But they don" want to hmr it. (Female white maaematics non-swikher)
The personal style of some faculty, and their active, open encouragement of w o r n in their classee; or in advisery mgsions, made an marnous difference to the confidmce with which women tackled their work, and therefore, to their l&dihaott of persistence:
If women survive, it's partly b m u s e sornmne n o t i d they had the bleat and encoumgd them in the f i t phce. But it's also beeause theyke rweivd support along tke way, It's not any one charneteristic in womm that stands out as m d g &em Bely to sueed-We having lots of will-pwer or something. Xt's s o r e that tazek talent has been s u p p d . meykve been h e l d to keep ping, and not It% the dheoumging things get them d o w . (Female white enghw*g swibher)
For tbhose who w r e Ims hmdfing their e r i ~ of s con in w i t c b g deeisioms: At high school, I got a lot of encouragement from both my math and my chemistry pmfesson, Wen I e a r n to coliege, I d i M t a p t anytlling like that much supgo&, because I hm there were big etasses and they" be busy with their research too. But it was a huge let-down. It was either, 'You perfom, and you do w U , or shove, off.' I think the thing that hurt most was X had some female professors who wemn't suppodive at all, (Female white e n g i n ~ d n gswitcher) The smond semester of my sophornore year, f was having problems in chemi~tq.I went to the pmfe-5sorss,but I felt like they wmn't heiphg me at all and I got v e v frus . My faeulty advisor gave me a pr&ty bad t k e , and told me not to bother going on: "if' I coullin" t o it, I skoujd just switch out. ' S o I did. (Female white scienee switcher)
The wituoldbg of fwutty suppoft 1ave;r;women at risk in a w&y which swm less tme of young men who have, by their prior socialiation, came to undersmd that the dexliaf of nuariag by duft, male faculty is a temparav hardsbp: The class= are pnrcty cold-prelty lonely, It's you, your kxtbook and a bunch of numbers. X don't go to pro% m u ~ hfor hip. I try to figure things out on my own. I w d &at book over and over, I can see how women would be turn4 off by that and want to go to classes which are more human-more pewonal. (Male white science non-switcher)
If male undergradwtes em rim to mwt the challenges present& to them in the early yars, they are assurd of mentohg by the adult fmtemity once the W&is complete, As shrdies of and professi omen in e h d i c a w , women who su dwode the g of the u n d w g d w k b ~ t i n gprocess do not automticajly rmeive this reward (e.g., M&s, F r ~ e r - K ~ w s s Hallenshad, i, & Burbam, 1993; Sbge S;: Maple, f 993). n e y are not accepted into the f r a t e ~ t y except , as tokens, md they are not mentor4 by it.
Issues of a n d e r
The Role of the Tmdi(-io& S.M.E. S y s m in the LW of Able Wemen: A S m m q
h the first of this chapter, we have a r p 4 that the hostility women encounter from some S.M.E. faeulty, m d from y of their male peers, is a dirmt consquence of their htmsion u p n a traditional p r o w s whereby young men are select4 and prepard to enbr an. elite fmbmity. The mare the faculty trwt the demonstration of padieufar " ulinekharacteristies as m essentiaf g a scientist', the more rmiswce to their participation women will expehence, Mmy mnior suggest;f that same S.M.E. fwulty delibrately d e ~ e the d kinds of gictll suppart which they sought to evoke, Wether this witwording is actually delibrate is an open quwtion. However, witwolding personal counsel or encouragement from under-classmen until tht=y h w e sumounted the W&-out hurdles appears to be a moral imprative baring u p n all S.M.E. f d f i y . Young men are more likely to undershad that to be accept& as serious candidates for upper-division w r k , they must pass tests of endurance md tenacity without faculty help, Although the nature of these tests is obscure to women, their role in the student mleetion process expXains why m n y fwulty rwist students" efforts ta engage thern in a p r s m a l pdagogical retationship. Unfomnateiy, this is the prwise opposite of what m n y young women-ad some young men-feel they rquire in order ta give of their best, that is, h c h e r s who care about them, advim them on the adequacy of their work, prais;e or chide them (as appropriate) and who give support through periocfs af difficulty. Unable to evoke such responses from the largely m l e f a a l l y (or from those f e m l e Faculty who have adopted the rtgenda and style of their male collmgues), women in S.M.E. classes tend to fwf they must be p e r f o ~ n gbadly and doubt that they should eontinue in the major. Male peers advocate not taking faculty 'rrejection' to heart, Many women have little expeience of LaJlrixlg it a y ather way. Young women tend to lose confidence in their ability to 'do science' (regardless of how well they are actually doing) when they have insufficient independence--in their learning styles, decision-making and assessment of their abilities-tosurvive deniaf of facuflty s u p p ~ ror t pedo i ~ t f e ~ r e h f i oand n, refusal of male peer acceptance. Women who persist, enter with sufficient independence to adjust quickly to the more impersonal pedagogy, bond to the major through interest and career direction, and develop attitudes and strategies (including alternative avenues of support) that neutralize the effects of male peer hostility. We propose that it is these elements of college and pre-college pedagogy and culture which most directly account for the poor survival rates of able female undergraduates in S.M.E, majors, mough, as we shall argue in the balance of this chapter, other factors make an important indirect contribution to female attfition, the foss of able women cannot he rduced without changing
and pmctices
(W
weft as those of some high scho-ol
is undeway, some primry needs that d sophornare women need to meet are: the typiality of the discomforts a d sef f-doubts m m to~m d e r s w d th they experienm; strategies b deal with them; and support to off-set tendencies to seff-critieism, siojcing confidence and emotional confusion. Beeause the difficulties W have dtsfibftxl are part of the stmcbre and culbm of women's 1 S,M. E, edumtioml experiences, they are entirely prdichbfe, Thus, eEwtive whm they program for women in unremdiaM si rf9system, or when are set up on a one-onene, ensis-based, they lack the public eo tment of izenior ad~nistratorsm d depa~mental &airs, Suecttssful program draw on the howledge of senior women studenk and f e m l e f ~ utyl who h o w how the cutture of S. M.E. departments works. They also employ the help of sympathetic male faculty a d a network of mentors fessional work wttings, la some depaftmenh, we found cross-cohort ona1 and supprt newarks develo* through chapters of national wletxt;s h r women h the wiences and enginmdng. n o s e mast frquentiy encounbred were the Society for Women in Enginmring (S.W.E.) md the iation for Women In Sci~nce(A. W.T.S.). Other strategies include: fieldrmidential options; pre-college ofienbtion program; mentorj;ng system (incfudixlg pai&g mnior with more junior women); and augnneexhtion of eIasses with all-women tutorials, m ~ n a r and s st-rrdy groups. Some deparltmental and hstihnlian-wide program which exempliFy these strategies are: the residential program for women of color at S h f o r d ; the Women In Sciencr: m d Enginering W.X.S.E.) pmgram at Bmwn University; and at the University of Wmhington the Vlrornm In EnginmGng .I.@ '+ E.P.) and the Women, fn Science W.1.S.) program, as well as the Fresh Irtterst Groups for women in e h e ~ s t r y .The number of sueh initiatives is grovving, aad accounts of their evaluaterf eficacy in incrming prsistence are begiming to be available. The t i m period over which the n d for such pragram will continue is debrmind by the speed and prohndity with which changes in traclitionaf S.M. E. attit-udes md practices are address&, As we have fearad in our discussions with the directors of programs for women on some of the campuses includd in this study, and with many W have visit4 siam its conclusion, some women's programs have bwn instil-uted in a half-hart&, window-dressing spinlt. Their dirwtors are constrained b focus an supparling women on a one-on-one advisory basis with insuf6cient staff m d hnding, without the m m s to track sbdent progress, or to evaXute the efficacy of their o w efforCs and without the power to influence practices and attitudes of faculty. Such initiatives do not wnstitute a. serious attempt -ts address tbe loss of able women from the sciences md engineering, and are unable; to recSuce attrition among women S.M .E, undergraduates. I n d d , their existmee in this
276
Imum of Gender
f o m m y largely reflect a dtmire to p s t p n e cmsidemtion of fundamentrrl c h g e in the ways in wEeh undergmduate scienw and e r t g h e h g is tatught, The foregoing discussion d m not ixlclude all of the factors which we found ta bear u p n the qmlity and outcome of WO 'S exMeucm in college scimce. In the balm= af this chapter, we dis~usssfactors wEeh have more iadirat c o n q u m for ~ w i k b g and prsisbnm. 'l% include: - tditional genderjustifimtians for swikbg; 1xk of stmctural explmatians for permnaf of i n t i m b relationships; wncems diEeulties in their mjors; the si@fi-m a b u t baIaeioig f a ~ I and y w r k roles; the impr"tallp of pmx and mentohg b n d s with o&er women h science; the effiwy af strategies; the role of women scimce faculty; and the i S" in ehmghg the c l i m b in wkich science is aught. If women in S.M.E. w j o r s reach a sage where they have begun to seiomly consider witching, then mother set of factors wmes into play, that disthpish them from men who are also kmpM to lmve. As Tables 5.1 dund 5.2 indicate, w m e n were much more likely t b men to offer two pafiicular r m o n s for witching, namely, r e j ~ t i o aof the cihrwr mdlor life-style slssocialed with their original S,M.E. m j o r (37.6% for w m e n vs. 26.2% for m ~ a ) and , switching to a non-S.M.E, m j o r that more interwting or pro&ses a better overall ducation 646.2% for women vs, 34.8 96 "or men). mese concerns are also evident in the overall wmplahts of switcbers md nm-wikhers of bath EX=. However, their u s as justifications for actually Iaving the sciences w a much more pronounced a m n g womn, An explanation for this gettder diRerence as enibedded in the text data. Men felt more tied to their original chaiee of mjax mdlor carwr as a m t W of duty to parents, personal responsibility and fulfillment of future family obligations, Notwithstanding the generalid awp-ee of w m m as wrkerrs and as cuntributom ta f a ~ l yincome, the aecaunts of b t h young men scnd women irmdieated that men still e x p t , md are still expwtd, ta provide the larger share of their future f a ~ l'Sy iinwme: The real key question is, W a t is it in sociebf pressureg that would allow my sister to quit college, vvhile my brother continues in gmd school, and f wntinue with this math degrm? f metan, X%v o b n felt a lot of stress, and I've thought about changing majors, but never quitting altogether. (Male white mathematics n o n - s ~ t ~ h e r ) Probably women aren't eencouragexjto challenge;themse-fvesto the same extent. W e n they are having trouble with somahing, pamnCs would say, "h, this probably isn't tar you; maybe you should try something else.'IIf weke not doing well, parents get aU over us and tell us weke not ttying hard enough. (Male white science non-switcher)
Just the fact that it's usuatly the father th3" the provider-ven though that's changd somewhat in the fast 20 yeam to Wo pa.y+hwk households, it's stilt the faaer who b h g s in the larger py-chwk. So males 8ti.Mgmw up with that mle model. Even if it% subconscious, you stilt assume that you" going to have a fam3y to pmvide for. So if it's a job you don't t e doing, but it pays enough to pmvide, youke gow &e it. You can't take somdhhg just because it's fin. ((Male white engkm&g non-switcher)
g about dropping out, but he wants to My husband is prernd and he%tth suppH us as a family. h d "X gohg to be injournalism, so l won't earn as much money, So he% seafly wlu~hntto drop out bmusr: he feels he should earn most of the money in the family, whereas, X don? SW it aas much of a problem for myself. I have the luxury of earning less. (Female AsianAPnecicm science switehef)
sense of f r d o m to rrc;X to have firs much inkrmt or reIevmee for them au&et, Women were mart;; likely thm men g they could give themelves to fwf t b t changFng obj~tiveswm so men to be suppaad in, their p e h s s i o n to do md were more like1 decisions by f a ~ l l ymd friends, Svvitchg because they had h a m e uhappy with their mjar, md klieved that an allernative mjor would give them g r a b r satisfwtian, was regarded by w m e n (more ttxm by men) as a saciallyaeeepbble switefing rationale: I don't fw1 a prrcsshg n d to support;myself or a family, whieh is something that pub a lot of pressure on men to sky with even a. bad decision. Not having &at pressure was one of the things that aflowd me to choose not to continue wi& somahing that smmed ta have lost its point. (Rmafe white e n g i n a h g swibhber) X don%t s women arc=socia&d to thinln as much of the pemonal gains as m m do, We *ink of the pgasure of doing cemin jobs--.li&e a social worker or a wunselor-which are paid subsbntiaUy less *n a doetor or an enginmr, But X w u l d be much happier earning a lower wage and doing sam&king I l k d than to be in a lab coat all day eamhg t ~ p l rfrgures. : X just csuldtdn" live e t h myself even though I w s making a lot of money. (Female AsianA m e i ~ a nscience switcher)
I &ink a lot of women are inkresM in doing tk.lings bwause they are inbmatbg, as o p p s d to bwause they are usefrul. And you can probably get a job on the bask of the degm, but you just a c q t that it won" Ebe a $M,W job, f t h weke ~ b m m h g less mate~aiistic-which is interesting, because jabs are actually g m h g tighbr-and you'd think it would be the other way smund.. .Oh, there are still a lot of men that want money, but there's a whole lot of women who don" feel that way. And it% sot necessady that they think their husbands an: going to provide. It%just that having a Femai and ai house on the Pobmae isn%very impmnt. I want enough money to keep mysdf
2 78
Issues of Gender
alive, so I h gohg do what I rwlly want. to do afier this-which manitgemwt. (Female white science noa-~*tcher)
is horse:
h c o q a h g the last WOmts of extmcb, it is interestkg that men couch the prasures they feel in of tditional gender role responsibilitis, e ~ w i a l l ythe expeetatian th will b the provider of f a ~ l i yincome, By mntmt, women explain their ~Iairnto gneater f r d o m of chiai~e of bing less concerned with m n e y and prestige thm their =lie p r s , other pmpge: are also expecting less of them, this be s their fwEing of f r d o r n to chmm a major or a largely k a u s e it inbresls them, mough women% sstatementsm y unswken prmmptions that they wilt not be r q u i r d ta be the ma for tfiemefves or their childran, we found little evidence that women assume that the! m i n source of h b r e f a ~ l inmme y will come from husbmds rather thm themsefves, However, the traditional assumption that men will continue to be the m i n fanrily providers is a consmt theme in the way that young men s e the pressures which rwtriczt their f r d o m af carwr choiw. The gender differenw in p r c e i v d degrws of f r d a m tu choose and to change dirwtian was espeeially noticable cm campuses with higher concentratiuns of women from sscialIy and wono~cally-dvmtagedbackgrounds. On campuses where a high proportion of the femle ~bde:~fiS whom we interview4 to d w n d largely on their o w economic resources, we noted the ith which daughters, rather than sans, were given family md peer "e&s&;ion"tct switch out of 3.Tuf.E. xnajors into ""doing whatever m d e them happy": I can see that a man would feel they would stick to sorndhing-even for the prestige, whereas, we're ping to do what we I&e.. .Mybrother switch& out of engislwhng too, just about the same t h e as me, but h e gat a whole lot more flak from my parenb-wel, not from my mother-from my father, (Female white engineehg switcher)
I had not b e n enjoying physics since my sophornare year, and last fall I bwame very depressed and stop@ going to class for about a month. EventuaHy, I takecf to my parents, but at this stage, X wgs in my fist semester as a senior. And they said, 'Well, you can switch and get a degrm in something else.' But in the end I didn't, because it would have taken me another three ywrs, (%male white science non-switcher)
As the first of these extracts indicabs, the tradlitian of indulgent attituds towar& women m y be passed from mother to daughter, but it is reinforcd by Fathers who a p e c t m r e of their sons thm they do of their daughters. In the wand example, it is the young WO hermlf who makes a pmdent decision, despite the Failurr? of her parents to encouwe her to finish a major she has come to dislike, but which she is close; to completing.
g an S.M.E. m j o r is m n as unusml by members of a ial circle, and her chaxlce of success more dubious thm r decision to switch-apially to a more traditional f o a b l e rebm fD more socially-approved behavior, The hmse a major that will prwe wononaically vailwble continues to be s t r q l y taught and rebforced by the fahlies and reference graups of young m. Women, by contraft, are still %llowed7 to chmw disciplines largely by the d e g r e of prsanal mtisfaction they offer, and to pay 1-s r e p & to t b i r wonomic viability. If they fail, or Ghoose to walk away from m S.M.E. mjor, it is perceived as less of a toss Q the diseigline, to vvornen, and to their f a ~ l i e sReversion . to .mt less exacting carmr also resolves the doubts of pdmry and reference group merohrs that women em, or should, mnage: the strains of a dual carsrework plus a fa&Ey, These traditional gender-rate expaktions were strongest on eampuw with a high proportion of women from on only one of these campuses were women's we1)l-to-do f a ~ l i e s However, , sbtemenb couchd in of their o m aspirations for m r i a g e and l"amiIy: I plan on having a family later, and X wanted something that wouldn't t e s t ~ e t me from spending time with my family. If I went on to be a doctor, I knew that it would be impossible, And I've never found rcsarch that interesting, So I deeicfed if f wasn%eexeited about the carwr, X shoufd just switch my major. (Female wh!te science switeher) Even with women cantributkg to family ineome, they still think that the main shoufd be the main s~tppsrt ...Even though my dad is quite fiberrzl, if I'd been a boy, hc might have bwn different about it, and would have want& me to shy h enghwring,. .AetuaUy, it daesn" hurt that my family knows that 1 have had a bay friend for the last five ymrs, and he%sin e n g i n a ~ n gand , theyke pretty sure that he's going to m&e money when he gets out, (Female whik enginmkng switcher)
h this last extract, both the
md her parents appar to have displaced their expwktioxls for their 's s t e h a l succas onto her Em&. T'he replacement of carwr goals with traditional mtital goals as part of the rationale for switching wm found o d y among one group of wemen on m e campus. mese were women at the East Coast public instimtion who had attend4 private parochial girlsbschools, An alternative, newer version of indulgence toward rfirsrghters was strmgly represented at the highly selective, West Cloast private re-rch university. Here, thoughts of w m a g e or fatnily were not mention& by women m a firctar in their thinking about switching. Reference to a diffemnt tradition-that of giving women grtrtater latitude than men-was d m o d exelusively focused m choosing mjors aad carwrs wftich were personally fulfilling, andlor altruistic in purpose, regardless of the lower incomes they expect& to rweive. ff their fwlings of f r d o m to e choies were
on the p r w q t i a n &&
would provide far them, it was never
mention&: f hate ta say this, but "X going to say it m p a y , I t h s w m e n at this age more &out what's gooing to &e &em happy-and how tfiqfwl a h u t rhkgs. h d ~ e a nlot of men get t-o 443 and wake up and say, 'God, X hate what 1" doing, dwsn%m&e me happy. ',..I ttxM wmen are just more allow& to t h about ~ &kg happy at tthh shge iR their lives. And msn of our age are just eonaentwkg on the money. (Female whib scimcc; srnritchier)
sady mnnkg away. Xt% swing that l have other oflions that am more enjoyabb. It" not that X" rnmping, It%* Wow! Look what else is rtvailabk,' It% a wglingness to be more flesble. (Female white science s*kher)
We do not have enough data to &bXish whether the trdition of giving women gram fr&~m to choose an a c a d e ~ cpath, regardfms of its mteriat camquenw, is higerentially I w t d in, particular mio-onamic, e t b e , or regional trditio~s.However, we not& no evidenm of such unfetterd ehoicm among women whose exptation of k i n g the -in providers for their f i t ~ f i e s W= as gtrong as that of their mXe p m : X h o w several single mothem who are stickkg k t h their majors, even though it%s u c h harder on their time seheduIe than it is for the rest of us. X think that givies them an izddd incentive. They n d the edumtion bmause they n d the money. It afl seems a little more innmdiak and more real to them. (Female white enginmhg sdtcherj
I have friends who rwUy pushed thmselves hard to p r f o m for their fam%es. Like same of my Af&can-heA~anf k d s , . They f s l rwRy pressurd, b w u s e lots of their fam%es didn" graduate, So they feel &e they rally have to perfom. They push themselve~very hard. (Femab white engine;e&ng gwiticfrer)
to help them re an young men to though priods sf crisis in their mjor, women lack the exkmaf canstrain&which might stiffen their resolve to see it through, md e x p ~ e n c eprwures w ~ c h favor their giving up:9 I'm one af three girk, and my fa&er doesn't have expeebtions of us that f t h M he would have if W were boys, And it's fine for him that XX"m gonna major in h e n c a n Studiw, or whatever. But it would bother him if I were a man and weren" tmr-focused. A lot of women, when they get into the seienm field and it's hard, and it%a lot of work, and they don't have anyone t e h g them it's i m p a n t do this-that, 'Yau have the capacity, and you can m&e it,' and that, 'A carwr is gonna be important to you,"aH you g& are the negatives: 'How are you gonna manage a carwr and having kids?" And, unless you have a d r a m that" seaEly pushing you, you don't get a lot of
psitive rehforeement. Bfl hey ever say is that w o r b g mathers are the y , you*= never gonna be able to balance things, But for swurge of ~ o ~ i dand men, it% e x p M that they" ggo on and have a e a m r , so thtr;y can be a sucws, There are a Eot of very ta1enW women in the scimce fidd here, and theykrr: very f ~ c u s d .But I don" t o w many women who are v e v relax& about it, and have any b d of soci_aI and pemonal life, The wamm who sum& am the ones who m&e it their fmt prjo~tyand wha rmay go a b r it ...It a e s so mueh more for a women to do scienw than it does a man, bwause e v e e h g ' s against her, and na one is mating for her-h ffaet they undernine her at evc;ry point, and if she s d k h e s to sornehing else, they can say it was just what they --and &at it's pr~brtblyall for the best. (Female white science switcher)
Bath m m and women understood the dynamic%of this particulatr set of social pressures very well. They were clear abut the constraints, degrees of f r d o m and wums af social suppart or apposition which h@ the decisions of both men md women: I don't feel that men and women Emve for the same rmson. The women, I found, were I ~ v i n gtheir s m n d semester sophornore year saying that the,y didn" like this, and they n d d ta get into something new, The men Xke h o w n haven" tie& uudil they%@had to. mey've been sick, or had to miss some school, or they can%tmish the m j o r in the time they need to. (Female white science swibher] One of my best male f ~ e n d swent thmugh the aeromuticaf program and he has every s m n d of it.. But with the pressure of being male and knowing he had to suppofi a family, he didn't swikh to the liberal arts where he would have been much happier. I thhk that" the dilemma facing a lot of guys in enghmring, It's one rason why more of them stay than us. They hate 8 lot of the same things as us, but they are fore& b shy in that t m k , while w m e n have a little more frdorn-aithough it also comes with a kick in the rmr to r freedom, but they can cover it get out,. .X hink lhey might ment our by saykg that we're w h p s or just couldn't stick it out, But I've t;l&& a bt to my ffiend about how much I loved my classes and how amazkgty interesting tkey are. And he said h-e wished he could say that of any one af his classes. It was man= of riding that skill than wanting to learn the material that kept him in. (Female white seience switcher;) A guy in my d o m last year who was doing Calc 43 w s swing one night, '1
mlly hate this and X don't have any desire to go on doing this for the rest of my life,' And 1 was asking why he stayed, And he said, You know, I want to have a famify, and 1 n d to be able to support one.%d I p i n M out there were other ways to do that than bwoming an enginwr. But h e was stuck on the idea that there were more pod-paying jobs in enghwring, and he fek he had to stick it out for h t . X know It's changing and that there are women who bfing in more than the men, but it's still not a very strong tradition. For mysdf, I'm not interest& in money all that much, and 1% not w o m d about
suppoeing a family...I think: men get caught: in the money, (Female white e n g i n e h g switcher)
I mean, vvomen have always had to reach for this interest, whe~easI've never had to. It% always been pusheh on me. If I shrt thinking that E h not interesM and that I'd d e to switx:h, it% trahlly unaceepable. But it's sseen as okay for women ta do that. And perhaps there's sore for thern to switch to. I mean, it's okay for thern to go into jabs that are interesting, but may not earn v e q much-&e fashion design, or 4ucait;ion. (Male white enginwring nonswikher)
Much has chmgd in parents' expecfations and hopes for their daughters aver rwent dmadm, a d in women" own =pirations and the demands which, they are rwdy to place on the Xves, Wamen from families in which the pressure to persist and to do well was as strong for daughters as for sons, were less likely to give themelves p e ~ s s i o nto leave if their interests chmgd: I have a few guy friends who are going though the pre-medical track, And it smrns rnahly bmause of parenhl influence and to make big bucks at the end, But they don? smm ta enjoy the classes that much. They stmggle, But therc are w m e n Iike th& too-not so much bwause of the money, but bwause they are trykg to g l a s e their parents. I've never had ta deaf with that;. (Female white science setchefl
I got a Iot of support fmm my family to be an mginwr from ever since 1 can remember, It's turned into a different type of pfessure now-here, if f. don't fulfitl that promise, there" goonna be rqercussions that I'm manna feel fmrn the family. (Female white engbwring non-sikher)
Women who had g r o w up in such f a ~ l i e apprwiatd s the extra strmgth that behg expecM to persevere had given them, and the encouragement to keep going through times of se1.f-doubt, However, traditional patterns are still strong enough for their effwts to be clearly reflwted in our dak as an imporhnt gender difference in pmisknee, W e n S.M.E. m j a r s who, for ai number of rwans, were at the p h t of weighing aeuments f"or and against switching, women were much more likely thm men, to give themelves p e ~ s s i o nto foffow their pemnaf preference, md to have this legitimtd by others. Afthough non-S.M.E. friends of both genders generally support& a 's dwisian to switch, this was not the case with femle pwrs in the S.M.E. major they were lwving, nor with thaw faculty who supported the idea of getting more women into their mjor. mm peapfe witbeld ' p e ~ s s i o n " ~ Imve @adicularly if the switcher wm p e d a d n g well), md they did not affaw the switcher to e m p without felings of guilt: My advisor was very disappoint&. He told me that he rcafly h a t d to sec: a vvornan leave engineering, And he made me fml like s loser. (Female AsianAmerican enginmring switcher)
W e n I leteft, she said, 'You can" leave me."She was the only one IeR. I told her I didn" feel like I wanlled to deal with it any more. (kmale white c=nginee&g swikher)
I told atl my friends in e n g i n w ~ n gI was leaving, and they didn't bcliwe me because I had good grades. W e n it fmatly came down to it, they just kiddd around, and called me a traitor and a drop-out, And a lot of them said they a h a p ~ n It . rally doesnt bother me any more*, but it does had expeetd it t seem a little unfair. (Female white enginaring switcher)
Young women who had been inspired by high school teachers or special recruitment programs to bring more women into S.M.E. majors felt especially guiXty a b u t leaving: W e n I hear about haw few women there are in the field, and 1 know I wuld probably have done better if I had really wanted to s h y in it, f feel like I should probably have done mare, (Female Asian-American science switeher)
Women switchers were atso at pains not to be mishkm for pesple who "couldn" t & e it. " "ey hit$ sufficiently absorb4 male $,M.E. norms to worry about being defned by their peers as "faifures7': I think it was definitely easier for me to quit bceause 1 was a woman. But, actually it was hard at the same time, because a lot of people just assume that a fat o f girls are gonna drop out because they can't make it. And that kinda makes me mad, baause I h o w I could have done it. And in order to do what I rmitly want& to do, f was ten with this feeling that I let the other women down. (Female white enginmring switcher) And a lot of my other women friends are going ta be doebrs and lawyers, s s X feel in some ways that X did fail-beeause I'm not going to be smn as successful, or prestigious. But I am going to do what f r a l l y want to do, which is to teach. But it does feel like I'm letting women dawn, (Female white science switeher)
Hawever, it is hard to be; a 'smdard-krer9for women in sience unless that tment is underpimed by a strong int~nsicinterest in the ma,jor: At school, I was rally annoyed with the fact that women faught English and the men taught seienm ...I didn" tee why women eouldn? do it, and I felt I didn" want to be part of a national nom. But it turns out that I'm following it. I found f was fighting about an idea, as apps-rd to being where I should be. Being a torch-bearer isn't tnno&-not at this fevel-there are enough women for whom it's fight without me..,At this level, it's very difficult to bear that torch against people who have such a strong aptitude, But I kept sticking with it because I want& to help change things. (Female white science switchcr)
Women who gave themelves permission to switch were not naessarily plaming to chmge the way that the gender role mpwtations were presented to them for their fitture: sons or ciaughters:
284
&sum af Gender
If I had a daughter, I don't t o w that I would push her. I was never push& into it. If she wanM Ex, do science, that would be fine, But I guess if I had a son that want& to go into ducation, I t h it wuldn't ~ be so easy to say, 3wit;ct-t into educa~onif you want &."wen thaugh It" nwssary nowadays for women to work to s k o s u p p r t the hmiXy, t;hey stilf th* that the man is going to be able to do rno& of it. (Female whik e n g h w h g switcher-to dumtion)
B a u s e the lwm& tendency to wish to p1 is gtronger for women than men, f a ~ X ypressura m y e v a more effwtive when applied ta women than to men-although fewer hntilies chom to exercia that Ievmge on hughters thm on sans, The prasure on m m comes injtiafly from parents, but it is rehforcd from a wider amay of sourms and is less focus4 on plwing pmple than on demonstratkg success.. in. Vmw the Fminist C ~ t i q u ~
On every campus, cve; found evidence of a overt debate a b u t the murce; m d nabre of women" difficulties in S.M.E. mjors. Elements of the ~ r w m e n t sudaced hkhavior or were de6;ted in attiwdes, but Ilhe arguments wem not o p a l y debatd, The care of the argument wm the traditio whether women's p r e r represeintation in S,M.E. ma,jars and carwrs reflwtd &a& menhl li&btions, or whether it wm largely a praduet of socialimtion, and the unfavomble conditions far w m e n in the wiences, The rsmrch ta this debate (which would have b n available to swdents s and m i a l scit:nc;e cli-tsses) was onf y slightly draw upon h The response of some k m l e s(uden& to htewiewer" quwtioxls a b u t any difficulties they might have encounter& as women In these m;tjors might best b c h a r a c t e i d as a v o i b w , or denial. m e y d i m u n t d elassrmm expefien~a w ~ c other h women IabeIEd ""rude" or "wxist"by explai~ngthem in te which avoid& t h w IakXs, Some women were uncomfoable abut digussing whethw they bad expefienced a c d e ~ cdiffi~ultiesin S.M.E. classes, md whether their difficulties were of a diffesnt order thm those expfieneed by mle p r s , lest the issue of inherent gender differences be raisd: I don't t* behg a woman makes it more diffieuft, or offers advanhges either, Sex shouldn't maser in education, so I don't think that, X wasn" made uncornfoable in classes if thatvswhat ysuke asking,. .I didn" feel-I wasn't dirwtly competing with them-well, just h the math classes, not in the careers. (krnale white mathematics switcher) I don't know why women leave. I don't think the atmosghe~'sbeen a problem for me, I mean, to some people it is, but then they have a problem in every a s p t of their lives. Some women must think theykre infe~or...One pmfessor was sexist, but I didn? respect him, so it didn" faze me at all. I mean, I didn't care what his opinion was. And, as far as Ieaming styles go, I don't s w how
&em mu14 be different stylw for men and women4at's fibieulaus. (Pemafe whik e n g h m h g swibher)
Some w m e n were tmcodomble a b u t a d ~ t t i n that g gender ~ g hbet an iwue at &I. They felt that it skrould not be an issue, and &erefare, it could not be an isme: &is-and 1 ha& to th* that I" a I tend tc, c h a I" behg a se& th se~t-blrt it%so e-omMtive and it som&hm d ~ w n ' tffeel very cornfortabfe behg a woman in the class, [Fmale: d i w eagiflw&g non-swikfier) Once in a whife I g& that fwhg that &ey t h i I'm hfehor. But I think they know me enough to r m p t what I ~ a do, n If it% &ern, I just ignom it, f don't see faculty t r a t h g women differway, but I try not to bok for it. I'm focusing on other &ing;s..,fSh, 1 do fwl prmrrurd by mde students and the male fa~ulty,but I've never had any pmbXems with it. (Female white m g h w h g non-switcher)
I had one female pfofessor who wanted all the women to Gome and mwt wit31 her in the fmt mupie of weeks at schml. And she said, Y~oukein a different kind of situation here thm youke used to, 130 ifyou have a problem Gome and see me." Xou&t that was r e d y kind of eondeswnding, and X didn" go. (Femaite whik e n g h w h g non-switcher)
wiho tmk this view rxzight expms mger at women who d w n b d dificulties r e l a w to gender, or at the impliation they ~ g hhave t had problem
bladng the victim: The senior who was actkg as the tour guide said, 'E prsonauy don't put my first name on paprrr to avoid being d i s e h i n a t d against,' And I muldn*t befieve it. I jud stood up and said, Y've bwn here for four yars, and I%e never even thought about it."ut I t h a ~lot of that is your upb~nging.E said, "Itf you bfinp, your daughter up to m&e her feel like she's q u a l to men, then &ere%so rmson she's ever gonna see any discE.imination."Female white e n g i n e e ~ gnon-switcher)
Same women were also mwillitlq ta a d ~ tot the possibility that the a c a d e ~ c or a r w r 'playing GelthWght be other level. They prefend to assume that Else battlm fought by an alder genemtion of women for eqwlity in domestic md public spheres had been wan. To suggest athewise wm i ~ t a t i n gto them: I raUy don't thhk any of that dischination against women is as big a deal as it was in the past. So to go on m&ng a big issue out of it probably isn" the grmtat idea. Because that's what keeps the gap open, i n s b d of closhg it, (Female white science non-swikhel.)
That same women d e ~ the d sunrival of stmcwrd inqwlities in educational, mcupational a d social spheres was noted by same af the older femXe sbdents who bad wider life experienws:
286
lssues of Gender
We want to end up at a plaw where women and men are the same-xcept for whatever is inherently different, And so a lot of geaple sort of assume that we're a k a d y there, They ignore whatever factam have happned in the first 20 years of your fife and say, Well, we all ought; to be equal, so we'll just assume that we are.' But it d o a n % work like that. (Female white nontraditional e n g i n m ~ n gswitcher) The younger women would mther forge that we rally had b go through all thitl to be t w t d half'-decently in dueation, jobs, or the family. They've grown up with what &eir mothers fought for, and they don't rreafim that those women had to work very hard to g& t h m to the p i n t where they are now. They %e kinda forgotten. And they don't want to think that there might still. be work to do. They would rather believe that all the problems had been f i x d . (Female white non-traditional science non-switcher)
The culhlre on some campuses also seemed to make it difficult to employ sociological or social-psychologiml explanations for the problems experienced by S.M.E. women. meories of this order were sometimes disfnissd as adxnissions af S, ads an unwelcome justification for special tratment, or as ' f e ~ n i s t " , Women would sometirnm intermpt their accounts af negative exprienees to aplain. that, talking in this er did ROE, af course, e them a Y e ~ n i s t ' : E don" f a 1 like I wanna come off as a feminist or anything. But I do have the feeling that some: of the faculty don% t e me seriously. (Femafc white engineering non-switcher)
There's not a lot of help an this campus-like a women's center where women can go and &tk to someone about the difficulties they are having. There are a lot of faculty here who are just oblivious...But, you can" say anything too loud, Pwple might label you as a feminist, And that" about the worst thing they can say. (Female white science non-swibher) "'hey have some good ways of explaining how things get to be the way they are, but you fwl you don't want to get too close to them I b ~ a u s etheyke too aIaming, E was &&kg to a pre-me-d this wwk about some problems she's hwing, and she suddenly said, 'Of course, 1" not a feminist. 1'm not that weird,' Et probably shouldn? be associated with lesbianism, but on this campus it is.. So ~ p l don't e lhear what they have ta say, bmause that thought gets into your mind, (Female while seienee non-switcher) There were four w o r b g w m e n in scienee on the panel who w r e there to be role models and answer questions about what it was like to be a woman in their job, Someone ask& them if they considerd themselves to be feminists, and &ey aEX said, "o, but. ..,' h d they went on to tak about some of the unequal things in their work situation that troubled them, I think that" sad. It's scary. To use the Label is to fri&ten yourself with the idea you're not feminine. And you can%admit to having problems, or looking for what causes them, without g&kg afraid you'll somehow lose your social accqhnee. X
t h s if a, \;vornanSs dohg it, it's got to be ferninhe, (Female white science non-switcher)
The tacit debate was particularly strong among S.M.E. students at the private research university, which, arguably, contained the highest proportion of talent& md hiwy-aebieving sbdents that W encouaterd. A strong, proactive university policy in f m r of campus-wide 'diversity' was reflected in aggressive recruitment aod scholarship support of women and students of color, mch that the campus "ver-reprmented' e orienbtion md national ppulation, University pmme the university'S hing of frmhmen a d wphomarw tment to the principle of diversity. However, students report& that they md mast others had reacted against this message h a u s e it smmd ta be imposed on them at wery oppmnity, h d d , W initially experiencd some difficulty in getting a y of our in xlts to discuss their though& a b u t gender issues: Gender fines are so fmstmting. It corn% up in freshman ocienbtion: they start &king about it right away, X m a n , it is samething that you always think: about...But evevane gds sick of heafing it, and there's a sort of backlash effmt, (Female white science switcher)
The aggressiveness with which this university had pursuec3 its pficy in favor of traditionally mder-represented groups, had, we f o u d , back-fir& in a rather er. Young w m e n on this camps were uncom-Fa*bie with the &ght have b n a d ~ t t e dto , mme degrw, on a gender basis, rather than solely on miedt. Fuehemore, if everyone at the university was being given an q w 1 c h e f ? , why would there be any gender difference in persistence ratm? They tended to dismiss socio-psychological explanations For gender discrepmeies in S.M. E. persisbnm se they gave rise to spmial tratment for women, which they ww as u m w s s a v For people who were bright enaugh to hold their o w : f m a n , my mother makes double what my fatiler does. But it didn't occur to me that this was an issue until I got here ...And I've canderd, if f stick. to my point, are m p l e here going to think I" a strong-willed feminist, as opposd to jjust being a strong urornan-or a strong prscm.. .But; it's just that difference, whether they're going to label me as a feminist. ft bothers me beeause I'm not.,.Siia when it comes down-there being s problem for women in science departments-it fnrstrates me that there" sany problem to be explain&bwause I don" want to have ta explain it the feminist way. But you still have to wonder how the problem a ~ s e s (Female , white scien~eswibhcr)
nose w o m n who rejmtd sociological, ar 'feminist', explanations for the under-reprematation of women in S.M.E. fields, ar for their o\;vn (unexplained) dgficulties in those disciplines, w m forced back upon explanations b a d on the
p r m q t i o n of a e r m t diRerww in (he calpaeity of m n md women to do m t h asld scienw a b v e clerlain levels of >mctian, Swb explmatory theories I do know a eauple of scienm majors who t h s that men are actually better at ma* in genemX. mat% when you get to the uppr echelons of who" best at math-&m the; men are aetuaUy her. h d it%true that &ere are more tap math studenb who am men than am women, and that it% a gen&ic, inherent thhg. In my mind, &ere% a f i e h e b ~ w cultural n and gmetie factors, I m a n , it% tme h t men are at m&than women. It% that shple. Of course, it's hard to ttsk &out this-it% such a P.C. issue, OVfsle white science non-s~teber) Them" s a t h learning platau, and evewhing I've m d about it says that women reach it much earlier than men-fim to four years earlier, X t h u that most of the mah we need at college should be bught at a m u ~ hearlier age. I think the m&laming curve for girls fXaEZensout around 12 or 13 y a m old, and for boys, it's more constant until a later stage. I don%tknow what causes it, but I t h M it should be respandied to, espially with very bfight children. (Male white enginwfing switcher)
I think that &G guys just thought thgt girls weren" as sxnirrl. I mean, no one ever said anfiing to me; it's just a fwling I always got. (Female white engineehg switcher) Accepmm of Ule theofy of fierent gender differences were also refleica in
ns g i v a by wme fexgale gwrs and aliming m n h their cfmses:
.M. E. mjam for disbeing t h e m ~ l v wfmm
I tend ta gmvihte more: toward the mate students. They have more I can relate to. mey'n: man: inteEgeat and more s e ~ o u swhereas , the women are more gossipy and chaay, (Female whie engineehg swi&her)
Even amang women who had &gm to undemmd the eulmraf and psychological promses wbieh firad sha@ their hiding a d bhavior, the tendeacy to took for bialagical expimations for o b s w d gender digeran- w a strong: To be honest, somt=thes I think it's h their genes. I mmn, the girls in the chsses, when I look around I see thcykte inbnse and they're studying aU the time, And the guys arc lke-it almost wmes naturally to them. It" like itss inherent. I have no idea how and why, but it's true, and it mkes you sick, (Femab while science switsher) That inner-confidence that yau get beeause you b o w of people in the past who have been able ta do ce-in t;khgs, it all helps to make it swm just nomal for you to do it &Q. But if you Rip through the history books, where are: the women? No wonder we don't think we; ean do things the boys get to do when we are kids.. .And X never thought of myself as one of a minority untG I came into enginmAng. But I am. I had-what" it all&?-false conscious-
ISSU~Sof Gender
289
ness-about it.. .But then you S&& to wonder if it isn? testosterone that confers the edge in mach! I have asthma and sammne told me &at girls with asthma have high wtostemn~,And I thought, 'Good! That should help my math!' W e swm to gmb at bbiologieal expfanations ntthec than social ones td explain anytfiidlg that is rally very c o m p l i a w ...And it's saU sa subtb, X sometimes h d myself a e c q t h g rude or unequal tmtment as if it was just okay. But at last I'm sta&hg to notice, But as a senior, I sfiauld be wsy beyond this, and at a shge where I'm tqing to help ather w m e n deal with it. (Female white e n g h m ~ n l ;non-switcher)
It is i r o ~ that e it was d y at this institutian, wkch had wrnpetitively mlmted s o w of the very best students in the country, that we should find women atemining the idea that there rnigbt be genetic litnitations to their i n t d l e e ~ l abilitia, Thme women prefemd to discard mio-eulturaf explanationrs for the problems of S.M.E. women (which they saw reflected in their university's "diversity' policy) because they justifid s w i a l treatment which only women who were intellectually poorer would need, and h a u s e they smack4 of ism'. More women on, this carnpus than on my other campus preferrd to believe that men a d women were, nowabys, t r a t d on m eqwl footing in most social a d eeonornic spheres, This belief left women without an explmation for their o m difficulties, other thm the even more unaecephble argument that their problem must arise from mme iderent intellt=c=mlinferioPity. mey, therefore, teaded to avoid diseussian of my a c a d e ~ cdifficulties they were experiencing lest they b s u s m t d of b i n g less able than the men. was the only campw where we met evasive bhavior among women ts around the issue af why w m e n leave S.M.E. majors. Initially, it was ve;ry difficult to perswde them to talk a b u t gender differences in the ' of S,M.E. mjors at all. They smmd to suspect that we were w h g to evoke what, to them, were a highly s t i g m t i d set of ideas. Alternatively, they acted as if we wmted them t s eonfws to ixltelfeclual esses vvbicb would e x p s e the f a r of b i n g thought less able than their male pmrs, We subqumtfy disovereid that they did not talk to each other arbour their dificulties eith~r,and so denied themselves the kind of m u m l aid which, at other ixtstitutiom, we had found to be a vital source of support for S,M .E, women (md men) at tirnm of difficulty, This extmordinaq expexllence among the women on this campus fu&her underscorm our geneml observation that the degrw to which women find the culture of their nnajor, and of their ampus, uncornfoabie, is highly vafiable, It also p i n t s to the bndency of even tctte most b ~ n i psf social enginwfing efforts to p r d u w negative latent consequences which can only be k n o w by solieitirag f d b a c k from those who are target4 by the initiative,
290
Issues of C e d e r
The haspat of a I)=! Carer: Wsrk and Fmily (1990) trace the powerhl tie imprative on colleg padicularl y white womecn) in two soutbenr universities. We alw feud evidence of women over-riding their original carwr qirations in favor of the tditional goal of m ~ a g ebut , only among one group of women on one earnpus. This was a group of young women who had attended private parochial schools for girls: Some p p l e joke about the M,R-S, mm.] degrm, and we do have a tremendous lot of very social somritia and fmtemities. And there's a lot of pressure towards manriage. On this campus, it's iinprfant to have a boyfriend-to be smn as someone who's bboyf~end-able,(Female white science non-switcher)
h a n g other women on this campus, and on aII of the &her campuses, we faund no evidence to support the thwry that women left S.M.E. mjom because they were divert& into this more traditional 'wrmr' path. We surfilist: that the difference bewwn our obsewation, and the findings of Holland and E i s e d m m y have much to do with regional vafiations in the noms of and about women. The following w u n t fends su~lportto our presumption: X didn't like the social atmosphere down there. I was born and raised in the West. I" used to ~ d i n gmy bike to campus, doing my hair in five minutes, wearing just a little makeup, and not thinlcing too hard about what l wear to class. And I was so used txt being active, and doing whatever I liked, without worrying about what the boys were doing, AI1 of that was rally weird t-o the students in the South. I began to undersbnd what it would feel like to bbe in a mino~ty,I felt I couldn" fit in. I wasn" going b buy into this looking cute stuff. I felt sort of degraded beeause the men looked at you as a girly girI with nothing in her head, m a t 3 s h y I dwided to w m e back up here to school. (Female white mathematics non-switcher)la
As we shall cfifcuss in this mtion, concerns a b u t the projwteci difficulties of both a carer andlor graduate schooI, alongside a f a ~ I ywere to smior S.M.E. women. However, the issue of baccalaurate versus marriage (or romance) simply did not arise for most women in the first two years of their majors when most switching occurs. This observation is consistent with the general upward shift in the preferred age of marriage and first pregnancy for nniddle- and upper-~ddleclass women. However, the issue of how to handle a "dual carmr' began to be raisd in convermtions with senior women who were tfiiding about graduate school and m&ing other eszrmr plans: One of the women in chemical engineering and I talk about that a h-about how we could manage a family and a career. We went to a career fair last week and I only looked at companies in a r a s where f would consider sarthg
a famiEy-even though f'm not marrid, or even t h i n h g about it yet-you have ta t h M about the school, system. (Female white e n g i n m ~ n gnonsvvitcher) More companieg are coming out with benefi& and v a ~ t i o nplans where you can accumulak enough vamtion t h e to plan a baby in so many yaars, and fake good maternity leave, (Female wbitc= engineehg non-switcher)
My friend-who's inbio1ot;y-and I were:having this diseussian. And we were saykg, 'Well, maybe we'll have kids when weke 30. Okay-we" finish graduate school, then we" work for or few y a r s , and then we'll have kids. (All laughing,) Me, too. 1" 222, and I"m akestdy thinking about my next f O ymrs beeause studies say, having kids before 30 gratly rduces your chance of b r a s t eaneer. I m a n , I h 222 and I h &king to myself about this f (More laughter,) It" bad*
Same mXe fwufty had hewn to affer warnings to their femle sbdents about the ii~tatiotxsan b t h eairMr md on fadly ]life which they thought wwe brought about by attempting to do undeWe bath sirnulmwusfy: Dr. M--- said that he wasn" ttrying to be sexist, but that he didn't tthnk that women could have a job and raise a family at the same time-that they just didn't have time to devote to any one thing, sa everything turned out mediocre, And it's her mental stattt; too, balancing two hunrongausly-opposite worlds,. .That was his opinion from having observd women trying it,. .His advice to us was ta sefiousty evaluate which was more impomnt to you. It s m s like so many people are tfyhg it, and he's saying it can't be done. ( F a a l e white enginm~ngnon-switcher) fs, their senior year ax undergraduates was the first Far most of our info time they had w ~ o u s l ygmppXeci with dml-earer arguments:
My ffiends and I are having a rmlly hard time dwiding whether they want to go to medial sehool, Weke &inking, 'Do I want to s p n d the next eight years d Rave children?" of my life in rneci sehool? Am I ever going to get m a ~ e or (Pernab w h h seien~enon-switcher) Choosing betwmn a carwr and a family has gone through my mind a lot s l n ~ e I've thought more about going into meciicine, I know how rigorous it is, and
haw timeconsuming, And f honestly have to think ta myself whether I can have a family. I think it can be done, but it &keg a lot of management and a lot of commitment-for both the man and the woman-so I do worsy. X'd dike a family, but I don't think I could have one at the time that I want to have one. (Female black science non-switcher) If f had children, 1 3 dike to sby home with them for the first year. But that's virtually impossible now, And how am X going to make enough to esver my
own mdicat hsumnee, let, alone a family"? I'd like to be the one who influencm my chifdmn md moXds them like my mother did me. But nowadays someone else is raising your child, It's hard. Tough choiees. (Female black seience non-awikher)
If you have the t h e , you don't have the money, If I have kids, it won" be for a while. Z don't want to have them when I'm 40.I dunno. Maybe 1% skip the kids and have grand-Eds. f haven't found a way to do &at thou&! (Pernab white e;nghw&g non-sdteher)
all instibtions, we nos that having children and b h g ially ixldepndent, m&er thm getting m ~ dper , se, were the emtraf issues. Unlike the young men who felt o b l i g d &asky in S.M.E. mjors they did not like beeawe they expect4 to be the m i n providers in future f a ~ l i e stheir , female peers assumed they were moviog into a world where w o m ~ nwere likely to be the =in, or sole, saurce of suppod for their children: All. of my fi;iends and I are asking, "Should we raise children first, or start ai carwr Fust? Should you bear children when your eareer'~already begun, or would that slow it down? Qr stop it?T"rhge are big questions, Because we all w n t to get on our f&. We don't want to be dependent on anyone, We w n t to be our own provider, (Female Hispanic science switcher) I know (hat fZ"mgmduating next year and 1% have to g& a job. And maybe five years down the mad I wiU g& m a ~ and d have children, MmnwhiXe, I dent-ven if I" m a ~ and d have to make sure that tc am financislly ind have ai family. It's very innpmnt to be self-sufficient, in case something would happen. (Fernale white enghwkng switeher) Par all my friends and me, the trend is to become self-sufficient and fmancidy indepndent before you m&e any kind of nnahuf commitment. Bmause wekve smn our mothers, our aunts and our mothervs fhends g e ~ i n g a divorce and Xssing most af their income bwause &eykve been too dvepndent on a husbaxid. And then they have to find a job in the open mark&, It%s scary thought, Most of the girL of my age, the bigest pfiority is fmding a cttrmr rather than fmding a man and searmg down. l'he same" true for me, X intend to get m a d & some time, but l don't tvvr want to be dtpndent on a man per se. I always want to be able to afford to pay for everythkg I want, and if I have to leave the mlationship, X don't want to have b change my slatus, (Female Asian-American science switcher) Most senior women (whether wifehers or non-switehers) a p p r d &as p a d little time or energy wonderiq whether they would get m ~ d m ,ey simply assum4 that, at some point in the future, this would happn, Peer discwsians f o c u s 4 on whether mad when to have children rather than when anid wham they anight m v . There a p p a r d to be little discussion of what type a f m r i t a l relalionship would fit with their plans far a esrwr and a famify. n e r e was, for
Issues of Geder
29.3
&-c@, very little meation of the d o m a t i ~division of labor, ar the questian of whose a r w r wadd take pria~tyin job relocation: g af moving-weu, just if my b o y f ~ ~ ng-d rebeated. He's a civil enginwr. (Female whit@:mghm&g non-switch@
My fiand and f have takd about h v h g kids some day, But we haven" rally tak& abaut how w e ' s gohg to work it aut in pmctice--not in the d a i f that we should, (Female white science non-switcher)
g ahead W= to avoid or delay discussing X t h I'm~ the only pernon my age who wan& ta have kids. I h serious. No one else wan& to f;tLIk:about it. X know a few of them are engaged and gdting ma~(=dt mlatively quickly, so X don" know what they"@ th them are very mueh set an going to medical sehaol, and I guess they%put off having ehgdren until a b r &at, But it isn't tiseussed much baause X guess p p X e want tf, forgd about it. (kmsle white science non-switcher)
r w o p i d the pritctieal difficulties b g earwrg. Until quite late in their undergradprofmsional womn 'With wte carwm, warn= in mjors hixi h n able to discount or i p a r e dvemity. However, the p r o s p t af long ismm of gender inquiti a of inemptecf earmr patterns, md the profmional trairrring, t b CO wasures m worEng professional mathers were now becodng an uncanfortable rality, Some w ~ o r gwho b d w i t c h 4 st m =flier p i n t , re+valuaU rheir deeision ws fortuitous in that they ROW h d earwr options which were w i e r to combine vvi& farmily life: It's h r d for womm to have a family and praetiee mdicine, She may be in a good position in a hospifaI, but if you start to ga part-time or &e sabbaticals, you 're never going to g&aherid. My friend was saying, 'Well, sooner or later, women physbiitns will g& into the top roles, and they" sstae to cfisnl5;e thlngs.%d I said, m e wamen in these fields right now are eiaer not r n a ~ d or , fiey'm not gokg to have Eds, So I don" ssee how you could believe that it% going to change anythe: soon," d8an"tthink that my female elms-maw have thought it thmugh, (Famle white seience non-srilcber)
Xf sommne asks me why X don't r a n t to be a doctor, X say, Well, my best ffiend's mom is a doctor. And she% gone all the time, and when she's home, she's panicky, because she hasn" time to deiaX with anything properly."he works way too hard. (Female white enginwkg switcher)
S e ~ o women r also kgm to bar discri~xlationstafies, espaially from those who had bmn itlttemiewd for mdical school: X know it's illegal to ask these kinds of questions, but p p l e come back from m d i ~ a school l k k r v i w s and hey've been a s k 4 if they intend have kids and haw &ey will manage that. In essence, theyke making it clear that it's soot
a c ~ q t i n gyou if you" going ta stop out. I &ink about how I'm going to answer &at quatian a lot, but I haven" come up wirh a mlistic answer yet. I'm a qua&fi& eandidsk, but if I was m U y honat, f probably wouldn% g& in a n p h e r e . (Female white s~leneenon-switcher) WO*
oas for the p u v w of this resarch is t wuree af potential get the kelp they need My husband" san e z e c t ~ ~engInwr. al H e says there was one female enginmr in his depatlment, but she left, They say you can expect to work liO or 70 hours a week. And if f have children, I want to be around them more than that, Et m&es you sta& to think of other ways you could use your degrm-not in enginwhng, I'm sure that happens to a lot of women, Bwauge they aren't going to be very awornmodating out there. Theyke not pro-farniiy, 1" sure that" a amson a lot of science= graduates b x k out of science. (Rrnale white enginwhng non-switcher)
Thew women k d wwived the: risk of svvikhixrg mrlier in their undergraduate earmrs, onJy t~ face mother prdicbble set of attrition risks a few ymrs later. fn tbs find section, we consider the stmbgies u d by individual women, and groups of women, in order to survive S.M.E. -jars, md what other faclcorn in their livm buffer them against laying, We also consider what ktit-utions md support organiations em do to inerwe women's level of persi sbnce.
IMivUwl Cclpiing Skills With respect ta individual rmpanms to the difficulties of S.M.E. =jam, a number of themes r s u r in b t b men's s d women" accounts of what, beyand hard w r k and ability, is n d e d to succ&, Some of thaw attiwdw and behaviors are helpful regardless of gender, but for rasons we have discussed, they are more? difficult for women to develop, n e w include a strong interest in the discipline andlar in the carwr(s) to which it leads, and an independent sense of confidence: in one" own ability: It's unfair eompdition and most of the w m e n don't last long. You have to have the inner-strength and desire to do what it is wekre doing here. (Female white science non-switcher)
I think it's intimidating, but the women who have made it through seem pr&ty sofid in what they want to do-solid in the sense of dirwtion and solid in that they'= not emotionally hurt: by this stuff, (Male white science non-switcher) She was rm1Ey t;rIented. She came here as pre-phamacy and switched into premed. She got a B on an exam, which was very unusual far her, and Dr. P---
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told her she knew no matft. He told her aU sorts of stuff. But she told me about it, you h o w , smilhg, She said, 'He told me I was st,upid!"ut she was confident enough in her abgties to do well, and she could discount what he was saying. She could let it go, (Male white science non-switcher) Don" t k e 'No' for an answer. Shnd up for yourself, bmause no one else is going to. Gnd if s o m a n e tells you that women can%do science, or aren" as good as the men, that's not tme, Women are different, and scienee n d s a diffemnt pmpe;ctive, and women ean provide a va,luable, different perspmtive ta ~ ~ i e n c (Female e. white science non-switcher)
Womn also have to develop asserliveness and persistence in =king faculty for what they n d . Assertiveness has traditionally b e n encauragerl in young men, but not in young women, in wham it c m he negatively smctiond as "aggress i v e b r kuafeFes;minine%havior. Women who are encouragd to be msertive white growing up have less difficulty in approaching mIe faculty md in asking qumtions, than women who have learned to be retifing and self-effacing: You have to leirrn to be pretty assertive early an if youke going to get czomfombke in this major, It's sad to think of your shyness as a handicap in your degrm, but I think it's true. (Female white enginefing non-switcher) E n g i n e e ~ gis a h o s t fohictding. Maybe some of the guys are just mare aggressive and more a l i n e : to stick their foot in the door, and say, 'Hey, here I am, A w p t me."Fema'te white engineering switcher)
I know that was a seafy thing for me. At first, I w u l d tag along with guy ffiend~ta office hours until X kind of got used to it, and she4 doing it for myself. (Female white engineering svvitcher)
I I a m d that you need to take advantage of the professors-ven though they do stand off,. .You just have to keep going to them and lelting them know your cancems. They ael like they don" tare and don't listen, but I've seen changes in some of them. (Female whitLe mathematics non-switcher)
Assertivenws can be, .and is, taught in some earnpus gmups for w m e n . Women cite adapthg to male styles of co udcation as helpht. n i s ineludes Iwming to be open and direct, and laming not to take criticism personally: f have learn& just not to take offense. f m a n , somdimes they're funny, and sometimes theykre rally bad. But you don2 t k e it personally. (Female white enghwfing non-switcher)
Rather than a dirmt approach, Eke swn where women will attract the male professors by being a little cutesy-just I guess to try to shield against the intimidation, Bwause it is intimidating as a younger woman to go up to a male professor and ask questions. And you don't want to appaar stupid, so you have to try ta bluff it: out a little. I've sometimes been real intimidated, and I've got a little dizzy-which is funny, because youkre trying so hard not to appar
296
Issues of Gender
stupid, but that's s m ~ t l yhow you wme acmss, And it's sPU.about not having the confidclxlce to go up and say, 'This is what 1 want to knaw.Y guess some of the guys feel h t h i h d too+ut they deal with it differently. (FemaIe whik scimw non-sdtcher) You wanna be onwn-one with 'em, but it took me a long t h e before I felt eornfortable b~dghingb t gap, and being able to say, "h, how are ya-dohg fmbg like & e y k n=no&erperson. Xf the h c h e r wefe a Rofwsor?' J~ua~t I'd h w how to eommunimb with her-1% h o w whem she Wconing fmm. I've had to lean? a lot of stuff abortt men. (Female white enginwhg non-g*teher)
W o m a who were used to k i n g around byz; and m m in a fanaily, friendskp, or spom cantext, h e w more. abut how to relab e o d o a b l y to ma, asld mueh leas intirnidacedby the: faculty or by the siu: of their mate p m group: If X hadn" felt comfoabb in big groups of men, I probably wouldn? tkae done physics to start with, (Femafe white s e i a w non-switcher) 1 was always eomwitive with m m in s p m and in schaof. And with my father, I got a positive, not a negative, fmling fmm being challengd,. .l think that most of us who an: still here wouldn? be if we feft intimidaw. Maybe those are some of Ihe women who got W&& out. (Female w h h enginec=hg non-switcher) X raisd four sons, and we are mom Eke friends. So I intern& with young male student9 Eke X would with my OM childmn. Some of &em have difficulty with me.. .o&ers s e m to fmd me inkresting.. .a few smm to enjoy the relationship-they bounee things off me that drfrjn?relate to school, (Female;white nantditionaf science non-swikher)
It was easier for me bmause I took the honors physics and elmtronics clagses in high school, and X was usually the only girl. In my first year at college, if I had male lab pafiners, they wuldn't listen to my input, even though I h e w this stuff from high setroof and sometimes they didn't. But X knew you just have to bbw them off. 'bey grow out of it, (Female white engin~ringnonsvviteher)
Women also r i e ~ the ~ bn d to let ga of the tendency to be selfeitiml, and the fear of being wrong"-bth of wKch women develop in the proems of by the internalid swdards of others: monitahg their p d a I saw Ems seff3uestioning from the men, They didnvttit there saying, 'Am X stupid? h X stupid?"^ my women friends and I Bid. So they swm to internalbe it less, And &ey can talk baek for some reason, (Female white enginmfing switcher) She always looks for her male lab pamer to k1I her whist to do. It r a l l y isritates me, bwause she's capable and knows as much as he does, but .-she% afraid of being wrong. (Female white science non-s~tcher)
ing on male p m a d T.A,s far help in practical W& is e r i t i a i . As digurn4 h develczping fmlbgs of &-on & ~ c a l 81tl earlier wtion, wamn expefienw at an esrlier period in rheir livw, and fiighlighted their need to squire it: to
I was s TA,and E show4 the k h m e n how to plpte a cow,h d snee the guys saw X could g& my a m in a w w and g& d ~ m& y evewhing, they &ought thrzl wag p m y cool, But &at d m n % m a n Ihat the other girls are a e e q d . (Female white sciertm non-s*kb~r) This one female biology T.A. was tying to fur some elmtronie device in the class, and one: of the guys in the efass just look over and made it .work. Vefy embarnassing-but, oaen, we lack that hands-on background. (Fernate white r;cience non-switcher)
The way youpm brought up is a big draw-back in mechanical enginwting. I mean, you" not shorn cars and tlrifxg~like Wt. So there" s peri.od of eatehifxg up. It can be done, but it m&es it, a little more difficult. (Female white enghwring non-swikher;) to develop a balmced view of the Fixrally, women felt it was i m p difficultim both men md women mjors exgeriencd in daling each other, h their frienhhip groups, women helped each of the gender-relatd problem they t from them, They dweIop4 tfxeorim male bhaviar, and to see that it was nat dirwtd at &em pmnalZy. They u n d e m t d that b t h adult md young m l e s had difficulty in ehmging the ways in w&ch they had learn& to reiate to
I don't think it's stfiatfhey consciously don't want us tfrere, but it's just been g so long that women just get m a k & and have kids and that their fives are selpame from the mm" s s r b g Ek.It's hard for them b w u s e it's bwn builr, up that, way for so long, so it's very hard for the women of the Y90a to try to erns8 the h e into that sqsrratd worfd. (Female whib scimc=e s&t~her]
km
I fwl we tend to Ibe more v u l n e d b coming in. Xf we could find a way to teach these 18 year*td women when they Gcrme in how to deal more effwtively with the male envhonment-m take what's bad and leave it to the side, It,% sot SO m u ~ hlaming how to be more focus&: most women can do that a n y a y , But women n d some stability, and that comes with hawing how to deal with the men, It's develophg a more effwtive eoping stralegy. m a t % what I fee1 W n d help with. (Female white enginmdng non-switcher)
From a focus group of women science sniors-
2%
lfsues of Gender
I've b o w n a lot of men usrho thought the ELbility to do math was gender-link&,
They are rmEy obnoxious at that age, They 're horrible, I don't know how they get dates!
But they grow out of it, And I t h f i the more women they m w t ...You can" get it into their hmds by telbg-they actually have to m& women who can hold their awn, Yah-weke
part of their ducation!
Women afso clarified the femle coping styles. they felt were counterprduetive, either to women the Xves, or to improving the situation for women as a whole. Most of these have a l r d y b ~ misd. n n e y include: behaving toward men in ways that are appropriate for a mxusrl encounter, but not for a worbng relationship; diswrding or denying femle identity by er; adoptbg the behavioral style of male peers, including competitiveness m$ aggression; adopting male views a b u t the iherent intellechal infe~orityof women; dikining femle campny; and distnrsting other women. As same women seniors understood, the grwtest personal challenge of s u c c d i n g in m S.M.E. m j o r was to gradwte with m inbct identity: If you have that sc=cu~ty,you" do alri&t. Ikve got a year and I should get througfi naw, If you g& through its a w m a n , you h a w y o u k e been testd-put up against the men, and y o u k e sum&&. And y o u k e kept your d.(Female white enginwfing nan-switcher) identity and stilt sue I had a boss who once Cold me, 'Do whakver you want to do, but don't tr;y ta aut-man the men.%d that has stayed with me, Because men don't trespmt women who try to out-man them, Ancl I have no desire to. I like being a women. (Female white science non-switcher)
As a n a m k r of the extmcts in this s t i o x l indicate, non-switching women suniors felt that they had rmeivd little fomal help in devefuping either an undershding of what they were getting into as fresh.(w)men, or the prsonal resourn, attihrtdes, pmctical and inter-prwnal skiIIs which they n d e d to persist. m a t they had lamed, they had either brought to college as a legacy of their upbringingand edumtioa, or had taught tfremefves or each other along the w y . T h q felt it should be posible for agmcim within their instimtions to address some of t h s e laming n d s in aa. a r g m i d and d i r s t
Bondi~gto Ofher Women in S.M.E. Maj~rs Femle S. M,E, students r a l i d m n e r thm did m n y af their male peers t it w a ta support w h other emotionally and intefleehralty. They
Issues of Gender
299
were helped in this by a marked preference for collaboration over competition in their approach to Iwdng aind the mplishent of tasks, and less nly felt it was prefemble ta work As we reported =flier, more men thaa women d m r i W failure to esbblish umlirf working peer groups ais a factor in their vulnerability to witching.12 With m l y a spridling of women in early classes, it was initially more difficult for them than for men to find each other, but the impetus to set up mutwl help groups was; &mng and was swn as a valuable aid to persistence:
-
You miss samesne to have camarade~ewith, The guys would all be laughing and taking, and I V sit in the corner with my math book on my own, It wasn't until the 400-level classes that there were other girb in the cbss. And it was much nicer after that, Two or three of us would sit Wgether and have sommne to talk to. Actually, it was out of class too-f mmn we'd laugh and j o k ~and enbrlain =eh other du~=lng cIass, and help each other with srnalI things we'd missed, And if we didn" undersknd something the professor said, we" huddle and check it out with each other. (Female whib science non-switcher) We both came fmm small schools and we were the only two women in rnwhanicai and we didn" like it here, So we just stuck in together. It% very Impomnt to have somebody. (Female white engin-hng non-switcher)
I lasted thrm years, you know. And once you get that high up in the enginmhng program, girls rally shrt to bond with each other and hold onto each other, (Female white engineering, switcher)
on living amangements (doetories, houses, sororities, or roam-mtes) far women of the fame or reXat4 S. M. E. majors were a g r d to be; m effwtive way to encourage the na(ura1 development of m u m l support systems, and to off-st fwXings af isolation among women: I didn't feel like f was a minority really, bwause I had a lot of ffiends around me who were in science or cnginmring+swialty my room-mate, So I didn't fmf out of place. (Female white enginwring non-switcher)
%e of the difficulties encounter& by all students who l i k d to work in a coltabraitive m m e r was that the pbilomphy and stnaeture of traditional S,M .E. pedagogy is built around individual competitive itctivities, m d is not conducive to group learning: The structure of the courses are very gcrtrs=d in a very male way-with individual problem sets. You rarely have: twm projats or group things. It's all kind of d k a t d towards doing it by yourself. I think that's a flaw because nobody in real life works in isolation-you work with ather peaple, That"s a big complaint weke all had with the depa&ment,.,Still, the women work tag&her a lot. We always worked the problem sets together in smaI1 groups. (Female white enginmring non-switcherg
Issues of Gender
3&2
e tmst md
&et,
developmnt of
friendsEp in study groups:
You don't help each other, You have a fmhg that everyone in the ellass is against you, That dacfiba it. ..I just wanna ery,..One of my pails was not to b m m e one of &age eGquey gkls,.,You don%want a study p u p that hm ~ p l who e have always been @&a,but you also don't. want p p l e who h a w nwer done anflhg e x q t e n a w h g , bmuse you can't develop a f~endshipwith them if you%@little in camnon. It% so nice to be able to find a study group s o n z ~ h where e p p l e aren't so comwitive. (Female white en&mhg non-switcher) Far sbdy groups (or my other f o m of collabrative laming) t-o work eEwtively md consisbntly, faculty must rethink the competitive basis of trditional mmsment pmtices. ee of women's pprofrtnfsional mieties in providing mum1 suppxt m d &er services to women varied g m t l y From one campus k, another. The Society of VVbmen Enginwm (S,W,E.) wm by far the most active pr~fmsiomlsociety oa the s v e n wmpum wbch we visited, anct more women were of m y other s i ~ f agroup." r 3d&, ly mare aware of S.W. E. 'S existence thm fferd on their campus, Mmy women had arrixed feelings about the value o a d profr;sssianaI soeit=tie.s, Some women avoid& the reinforce women's srginality, and to eneou upation with their problem, nose women who suppod& wemen's mieties found &em trtelphl in findkg m~ntors,building profwsionirl n e w o r b a d p r e p a h g .Far t r m i d a n into work or p d m k schml Some activitiw cited as useftlf wem finding mlevmt work experjenm, w m r - m r c h preparation, m d job xxeWorking, Mmtimg women from their inmded cairwr field wm a v a l u d murce of employment conk&, tion a b u t different work rotes, insights into working women" svvays of coping with gender problem at work: I have a mentor who is gmhg a Ph,D,in civil engineering. And she has a two-yar old daughkr. She" introduced me to a lot of the womm working st Appb, and some other companies, who have children or who want children. We h& about what we're going to do, and which wmpanies are helpful, (Pernab white engineering non-switcher) I b e had m n y male doetors say, 'Are you sure you want to go into nzdieine, given the time eonstmints?They say they telt ysung men alga that they won't have much time to spend with their families. Etrut X had one woman doctor who ahmb and do what I've done. I've had kids and I made it,' That told me, was rally the best encouragement. (Pemaie white science non-switcher)
Some women also found companionship, and a way to put their difficulties into persptctive, through these societies. As in the following instance, this kind of =pp& workd best when it wm caherently o r g a n i d : We do pa&g with incoming freshmen---%oneonethey can atsk questions of if they" havhg: trouble wi& the classes or am eonfusd about anylhing. Itss that oEher p p l e run int~the same difficulties and have the good to same an~&iw.mey just need somesone who%been here ta let them know that tfreyk not stupid just bmuse they got a G cm a test. (Female white engineering non-s~t~her) Some mieties drew women into sienee promotion a d recmitmat programs at local elementary aad high schools, and offered interampus nehuorks of women in their discipfhe, The most well-sup"po&& soeietief used their mwtinp;~,social gathedgs md outings as an opportunity to b r d dawn m i a l barriers bewmn S,M,E, men a d women, The most xtive $,W, E. chapter that we e n w u n b r d hefudeid in its memhrship one q u a ~ e of r all enrolled w o w n engheers md a 12 percent m l e membrsfiip, Women m m 4 ta h o w little a b u t any wpprt axld dvisory program available to S.M. E. women on their campus, although som af the enghmfing a h m l s which we v i ~ i Mdid k v e a women" program (ineluding a women's advisor). There w m d ta be no depadmentaf program for women in science or mthemties. W e r e they were aware of a women" dvisary pmgmm, women &ad& to be w a q of wing it andlor skepttal of its value: f wouldn" t b e surprised if these programs were just set up for the name of it-just so the dean mn claim our school is beeter,. .And you are liable to get money from the government for them, bmause it looks as though your depa&meat is con~ernectabout women, minorities and quality issues. I think
it's probably just a faqade. (Female white engineering non-s~tcher) I haven't: ever been to the women" sadvisor, W a t could she do for me'? Bmause the pmblern~we are facing am so hard to pin-point that it's impossible for her to do anphing to help us. They wauldn't listen ta her anyrry. She's out there on her own too, She can%make: faculty give us same attention. (Female: white engineering nan-switcher)
As problem wGch women enmunter go right to the heart of the character md customry pmctica of S,M.lE, mjars, W too are doubtful that they em be amelioratd by the efforts of a Ione femfe advisor in depart-men& which are fficientfy addrwsing the cultural md stmehral roots of their problem. a"a pamphm Mbn Einstein, you c w o t expeet to solve a problem under the conditions which produced it,
Facuh Women and &"her R@&M d l s s d Wntors Senior women a w moving toward a mare qual number of male asld female faculty, T,A.s, graduate and undergradwte smdents in S.M.E. majors as the
ng the participation af women a a e n - f o r - g r m w
w p t of their biseiplixles: I didn't even rmlh_l;eit until now-until I gat to this age rm'ily-that having other women around makw tt definite difkrenw. If there were more female T.A,s and women professors and studenh, you vvould fee$a be more confident about being a woman in this degrw. (Female white enginwring non-switeher)
Those women wha had atbnded 811-girls' high whwls where scimce md mathematics teacbers were femle, knew that it was possible to create an atmosphere in which it felt natural for girls to ix: camptent in science and matfiematies. Experiencing more women as Wchers was thought to give swdents of both genders the oppamnl ty to r e s p t , a d ~ r and e b ~ o t n ecomfo*ble with women as rote mdels: It% a woman who teaches quantum mechanics, which is neat bwause that's cutting edge physics fight now. She's also tmching the highest two courses you can take in the major. That shows some of the ehauvhisb in my classes that women don't nnecssafily go into mushy things, Iike astrophysies. (Female white science non-switcher) Having a female T.A. helps bmause sheknows what she's doing; she" heelping to teach this class, And it makes me fwl like, if she can do it, so can X,. I hope the men look at her and; see that she% doing a grwt job, and that women ean be as good at this as men. (Female black science non-switcher)
Women in departmen@with no k m f e faculty at all experiencd more difficulty than other women in believing that their own presence in the mjor was The problem with this univenity is there &rentany women profs in aerospwe. There's not even a female T.A.-just female secretaries,. I just fml the need for a link, you h o w , some assuranw that I'm making a wise dwision by staying in this field, (Female white enginw~ngnon-switcher) 1 never hird one female professor, not even a female T.A. The only time f ran into a woman was in the offiw, It was hard being one of so few. (Female white enginmring switeher)
I: have yet to have one fernate professor, There aren? any here. f 've had one or two female T,A.s-&at's it. (Female white enginmring non-switcher) Unless for some rmson you k ~ o wthat you belong in science, and you just know that yourself, f think most women n d a model, I think there would be a lot fewer women in science if you just waited far them to motivate themsclves, (Female white science non-switcher)
The idea of a role model is complex snd refereacm a number af diffurent but overlapping hnctions. In choosing a mjar, women sometimes Imkd to
Issues qi( Geder
303
mhbIish& or famous w m e n in the field for inspiration. m e s e were women who were "out &eremand "up there, * and whom they desird to emulate: Somane that you"@ fading about-sommne frjemale white engineehg switcher)
you would aspire to be like,
Showing you that this woman made it-&at she accompfishd what she wanM-&at" powerFirt. And h o w h g there" s jot of eapble w m e n out here doing what they want ta do-that they are not just exceptions, (Female white science switcher)
However, the remok M i m t i m a l role m d e l was insufieient to sustain a 1Femle 3,M.E. strudent under strms, padieularly those who found themelves in the burdensome position of having to defme what it m-s to be a w o m n in their field without any blueprint to fallow in their depadment: I think we may be s generation too early, X ceminly haven" thiLd any role models ss twchers. Female white science non-switcher) I khda feel rike we're pioneers. It's hard ta pick out women in my specific field as role models. X feel f have ta make it so others can -Follow in my fo~ootsteps, But it would be helpful to just h o w that somebody else had done it. (Female white science non-switcher)
Behg bught by women faculty wm imp0 feel more confident that they h l o n g d su
t in helping undergraduate women their m j o r and that they could
It would have been good to have wsrnen you coufd look at and say, They've done this too. So can I."Female white science switcher)
X would have liked the exphence af havhg a w m a n professor mriier-a very suwessit'ut one. Like the one we have now, Because it took a lot of encouragement to put myself into the rok. Seeing anotber woman doing it so well was, U e , 'Waw! "Female white enginmring switcher)
Women sbdentls alsa n d e d to SW a rmge of women faculty, nat just the exmptianally g i R 4 (md often sole) reprwntative of their gendm in their discipline, before they could fwt that there w s room for women like themselves: We only have one womm in the mmhanieal engineering department. But she's so flawless, I don't know if she's sush a good rofe model bsausc I can't achieve that! It's not possible, (Female white engineering non-switcher)
Having more women faculty afsa hefpeid female students learn that there was mare than one way to be a wo in science, and to observe a rmge of personal styIes md coping t s h i q u e s . mow who had been aught by women faculty and T.A.s in college notied that k m l e professors us& a wider rwge of tmching tmhniques than mate
Zssrres of Gender
304
grahsmrs, md that they bradend their clrlFxlicufum to include the femle expFience:
In a elass on nuthtion, she mention& that to g& an aceumte weight women should weigh &emselves at tbe same time eveq month. The guy in front of me ask&, m y do you have to do &at?" ddon"t&aa male professor wouM have even =is& it. Xn a diffemnt elass, the woman professor went through the homonal and ghysiotogical changes in human pregnancy. h a z i n g . It's vafuabk to hwe &we Issues brought into the dkcussion, (Female whib science non-s~tcher)
They bring a clfiange of pace-4hey.m rentore apt to discuss the rnskfial, The men don't diverge fmm their s c ~ p tmuch. And they o&en fo"ofget to give appE~ations.The female professors do that more, (Female white science nonswitcher) Well, II did have one fennale prczfessor. I liked her a lot: she; was interesting
and funny. (%male Asian-American enginwfing switcher) fight now I have a woman t a ~ h e r who , uses "she7ar 'scientists'-which is shoeking, you know, We should have had her when we we* freshmen, not when we" rr:seiors, (Female white science non-switcher)
Wa~lenfaculty were thought to be mare a p n to students who approt~ehedthem with q u w t s far clarification af the clws mte~aiX. Wether or not tlris expecktion wm met, femle shdents were more co-mfa*bXe a b u t a p p r o a ~ b g femle twchers: X I?ouod that the male prafasors were the ones who a n %tmch; they are the ones who aren? open to studen&"questions. The t a ~ h e r I%v s had who were femgle were more encoumging, and more willing to s ~ down p a littie and explah things in basic terns, mther than faring theyye babying the students-which I think a lot of male professam do. (Female white science non-switcher) It would be b&er if them we= more femak professors, You know, X h d it rally tough to taIk to some of these tough male profasors. God, they have iron faees! (bughs.) Men I haUy got a fmale professor, it was the first time I felt 8 couM ask a quwtion in cktss. (&male white enginw~ngnons+tcher) They n d more wamen-faculty and T.A.s--in the engineering sehool-pmple that we can go b and say, 'X don't tndemhnd the way this man taches. He's not explaining how he got from A to Z. Can you show it to r n d q w a u s e I can%ewer talk to the guys irbo~ltit. W e n I tslk to men, I always find they play &tie gczmm. They won" give you a difect answer. (Femab white enginwring svvlitcher) X just felt V G put ~ off by the whole cfassroom e x p k a c e . I was o h intimidat& to go and talk to them in pmon. Them wen= no women faculty l[
Xssues of Gender
303
~ o u l dtizlk to about these expeniences, and no black faculty.. .We g& a backlash from bhging up these ksues, and it discoumges us from even talking about them, If the university won't w a g n k e them, it" s hard thing to have to deal with, without that supprtive n m o r k , So it% a big thing to have faculty there who can relate ta those e x p ~ e n e a and , who lire willing to talk about them. (Fmale bfaek e n g i n m h g switcher) S,
women wished there were more f e ~ l Te A .S, :
I had female T.A.s in zoology, and few anwhere else. It made a, difference to how I did, because I never felt I w s bothehg them, and X would always ask right a w y when I wasn't clear about something--@ k a p on top of the material, The men all behaved as if you were a nuisance, and I was slow to ask, (Female white science non-switcher) I had two female T.A,s in chemistry, and they were both down-to-earth, nomaf p p l e . One ulas a black girl who had b a n in a s o r a ~ t yand I l a m 4 many things from her, t did by far the best in that class. Maybe women need a tacher they can relate -to more. It's iinnporl;lant to have sommne to help you thhk, "X's maybe o k ~ ythat I'm h e r e e v e m a l e white science switcher) Women faculty were alsa felt to crwte a m r e egalihrim atmosphere in their class-rmm, both b w m a s w e n t s , a d bwwn mcher md learners: Some guys try to act like they know more than you do. But they're not &ken seriously when the professor's a woman. (Female white science non-switcher) Womm faculty don" show any bias toward female students, but theyke certainly not gonna make you fwI any less than the male students. (Female whir*: science switcher)
However, the strongmt, s h g I e need e x p r a d by women S.M.E. mjors thoughout this s h d y w m the need for a p m n a l , supprtive relationship with their faculty. The gender o f the er who met this need was less i m p o a t than ffetthg the need met: I don't think it maaerd what sex they were; it just m a t k r d that there was sommne, (Female white engineering switcher) I've had both male and female advisors who have been rmlly helpful and who encouraged me. (Female white science non-switcher)
I talked to my advisor a lot, and he would encoumge me when t falterd. He'd say, 'Look at your good gmdes, You can do this! W e was backing me up right from my own prfomanee. I saw he had the same kind of retationship with some of the guys too-just that kind of mutual m s p t and suppofi. (Female white mathematics non-s*tcher]
One a f the attributes which femle: students e x p a t & to find in women faculty, and bdievedl would be easier to find if there were more w m n faculty was a n u m r i n g attitude towards male a d female s h d w t s :
306
1ssrrt.s of Gender
You know youke the mhohty, and a Xot o f times it didn't bother me, But there's t h e s when you would just l l c : to talk: to sameone-another wornan, Et makes such a difference. (Female white engineering switcher) We wish& there had been a fernale professor we could relale; to-but was no one. (Female white enginmfing switcher)
there
By coatrmt with these two switchers, the following three non-switchers were in finding the rapprt md encouragement which they mught with t in susbinixrg their mode: She made it known that any female physicist who's hhaing trouble can go to her any t h e . There are so few pmple like her-who care. (Female white science non-switeher) She's been my suppod this semester without even realizing it. Even if f went to talk to her about generat things, sooner or Iater she'd say, 'Don? t o m y about it, You can do it."She's always chmfing you on, Wlling to do anything for you. (Female white science non-switcher) Weke developed a rapgorl-~ust with me going in and talking to her about gmd school. More than with any of the other professors, If we see each other in the hall, we'll stop for a while and chat. It" made it more difficult than it n d have bwn, not to have that until so late in the day. (Female white engineering non-switcher)
Becawe women e x p m t d f e m i e faculty h be more approachable luzd supportive than their male eollagum, they felt mgry and abandoned when women faculty did not live up to this expectation: fn the middle of my sophornore year, I got my first C and it really hurt, I got it from a female professor that f had gone ta asking for help. And she had tried to help me, but she was very busy, and pregnant, at the time. But it still hurt, not getting a lot of support from her. I suppse it% terribfe-expmting you would get more than the boys did from a woman, but I tried. She always bked about how she was the only wrnen in her entire field, so X guess she must be tough. But women tachers in high school had been so suppclive, so it came kinda hard to me. (Female white engineering switeher)
As Etkowitz (1994) and his ealIeagues (Kemelgor, 1989; EtAowitz et al.,
1992, 1995) have documented, the perspectivm and actions of femXe science fwulty tend to cluster around hivo very diffctrent models. The first is a "trditional m l e ' h o d e l in which women foeus competitively and instmmentally on resareh and carwr, to the exclusion of 1Fanrily and personal life-, and which discounts 'women" iissues2n science md science ducation. The swond is a "femle relational" model in which women invent alternative working stylm by which. they m k to acco odaite or resalve the strains an identity, work rules, md the work-fanlily balance crated by whnlesale adoptiun of tradifionnl
Issues of @@&er
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mfed etioas ~ of the seientistk role. The f e m l e mdergratXmtes in our mmple e n c o m b r d f e m l e fwulty wha exemptifid both mdels. Same of the seniors ity w&ch had eonstmiaed the b l a p e r d minority of p i o n w h g women seiegtists ts embraw a traditional mile style, ineluding the b l i e f that worn- have to work harder axld acfiieve more than their mXe e o l I a p e s , w i ~ a a at y p m W af aceep-ce or rwafition. T h w seniors urnderstd that f e m f e faculty advisors who embraced this role felt they were acthg in their 6 m d e n b k t iabrests by rebiog to nurture them, m d forcing them, to deal with the mcampmdsing male dim&,'They did not, howwer, ser: this as the k t way faward for women in science. Rather, they lmked to women faculty and working profwsionafs to model new work role patterns wEch addrewej both carwr md personal n d s : The two women professors in biology-if it wren't for them I would never have gonen here.. .They told me where to ga, who to call, what to do. And the advice they gave me was as fight as it eauld be, They hejped me find peaple doing the research f k h@, fundkg the right grad schools, There's such slim infornation and little solid adviw. (Female white science non-switcher)
Pmctical role: models arc: grat. To sw how a prson has got from A to B and has enjoy& it,. .It%very rmssuring to sec: there are different opp&unities,and that women have rfone things in differ-ent w y s . And to see that women can have a goad time and enjoy their f a m ~ e at s the same t h e , M a t a refief, Not this g ~ n dof having to fit only one paetem, and never have time for yourself, or a family, or enjoykg your Bfe. (Female white science nan-switcher) Other sourws of practicail role m d e l s and mentors for f e m l e S.M.E. =jars were prafmsional women in their fanxily and friendship circle, women they e n c ~ u n t e r dat work and in. imttemships, and s e ~ o women r in their o w m j o r , ineluding k m l e gmduate shdents. M a t e v e r the source, the n d s which mentors a~ndrole models met wre esasistent. The most irnporbnt of these n d s waei to e the atkinmeat of a professional or w a d e ~ ca r m r based on an S.M.E. Hlajor, and its eombinatioa with a satisfying f a ~ l y social , md pemonal life, =m no There" one woman at work that's jjut complekly dynamic. She% stably changd my views of what 1 thought a woman" role in an enginee;ringjob could be. Bwause she's so camfortable interacting with p p l e . She does such a good jab. She's only two ymrs older than me. So it% very inspirkg. (Female white enginwhng non-switcher) It's so mueh beaer to see sorndhing in front of you-womm in the field who are raising children d the same Gme, You know it can be dane, and sming it makes it msier to do it, (Female white enginering switcher)
All &rough high school, my boyfriend" older sister was a Double E at S---. She was telling me about her explliences, and it h e l d me feel, 'I can da that. V just saw myself in the role, and that help& me make the transition. If
you can't h g h e youmelf in the role, it's rally hard tx3 even start on it. (Female whitr: e n g i n w h g non-swikher)
I guess I had a practiaE role model in my mother, who got a Ph,D. ;in math, x n a f i d s h w a r d s , had her kids, thein s t a d work rtt the unbemity. So Ikve smn her cJo it, and know it can be done. (Female whitr: seienm non-switcher) Showkg you that this woman made it, She accomplish& what she wantd. And knowkg that &em% s lot of capabk women out there doing what they want Eo do-that they are not just e x c q t i o n s - ~ d % pwerfirl, (Female white science non-gwiteher)
We are aware that the; i m p m m of mentors md role models for women and ~ n o r i t y$@dents in S.M.E. mjors has bmn the subjwt of wasiderable rwent discussion, ancl is the basis for a number of initiativesaimd at improvixrg the persistence of women in S,M.E, -jars md grduate school. The evidence in our text data underswrm the value of bitiatives whieh inerease the availabifityof mentors and role mdeXs lFor S.M.E. women. It also pain& to the l a d to hdp frmb(wo)men undemmd, md to cope: with, the difficulties they are likely to encamter h S.Evif,lE. mjors. However, we would also offer the followkg eavat. Without honest attempts by S. M,E. depadmenh to confrant a d address the no and practices which m&e it difficult for women to persist-hcludiog incrming the willin&nessof faculty ta be the =in sauree of mentahg for all st~dents,and the appintment of more female faculty md WcEng assism&-the addition of mentoring semiees is unlikef y to m&e ather mrginal improvemnts in the a t t ~ t i a nrates for women.
C r e a t i ~a Camfambb Glimak for Wamen in S,M,E, Mdom The most obvious shtement that can be m d e about the contribution which instiltutionsmd dqartments e to the persistence of women in S.M.E. mjors is that numbrs mtter. The more women S.M. E. deprtments alrady hwe as faculty, gr&m@ students, and cument and fomer haceafaurmte students, the more female f r w h e n they m expect ta r e h k as gradusting seniors or as g r d u t e smdents. In S.M.E. mjem where the gender brtlanee is either at par, or where women are a t a r e r minor-ity (nohbly, the life scienczes and some mthematics departments), female S.M.E majors report the atmosphere to be more comfs&bIe, md the problem fewer: Well, in biology it's 5@50, so I just never felt that mueh of a difference.
(Femab white science non-switeher)
I always felt quik welcame-pre@y eomfsrtabb-there: were at liertse as many women as men in biology. (Female Asian-American s ~ i e n non-switcher) ~e
&sues of Gender
309
vvomm. S s All the elassesi Ikv hha here have been basically 50-50, men it" sot possible to th* that wamm aren't ES capable of dohg math. The
mow it's encountgd, the b-r non-switcher) S ~ l a r l y at , the
it d get for us, (Female white mat-hematies
WO
.E, =jam in more equal proportions), we found the by mEe p r s md facub to be eonsidembty less tfim they were In the same disciplines m the other four mmpusa, However, on all caqusee, in e p g h ~ h g physics, , cheniistry aed in wrae of the apgliad and earth seienees where (wnnprd wilb the fife sciences and nnathemtics) fewer w m e n were attnctd to, or sulvived, the introductory classes, women were more apt to wondw whether they blangd: int
rts
I was nefvous alrmdy, bmrxse the mien were the big majority in the class. And it wasn" that the;g were; any be&r in class than me, but t h y were more confident. I had one gkj friend who was nervous all the time, although she did
h ~ r d i b f ywell. And I w o k d about myself too,. , R e r e were a few women in my d a m that were in other enginwfing chsses. WeSd try to stick together, but it wasnt realty vefy w y , (Female white ertghw~ngswitcher)
From a focus group of three womn enginwhg non-switchersS o m e h e s I mUy douilid myself in elasraw,,.At fir&, I thought there were a fat of women in class; aRet a wMe, I bok& around and there were only three or four. And f s t c z d wonde~ng,m y aren't there any women here?' and t h i n h g , I mlfy belong here?Vt% real ...,
1 had t h 3 problem too. You rmDy start feeling that-espially in Double E dasses, where there are hardly any women. You look around and see the few women and think, 'Oh, people %e me?"
The moxe women who wmplek S.M ,E. m~ors,the more they colIwtivt2tly tach fareulty and pwrs how to bhave towards women, and the w i e r it k o m e s for the w a m n who follow them; Well, it*s hard, But it will g& a s i e r as the yeam go by just b m u s e there's g into the field. Tl~eyhave to start questioning the stermtypeg about it having to be a man" field-a man% science. (Female white mathematics non-switcher)
I V d e to t h M that pe;rhaps my going through has helped make the faculty be not quite so against women-to be more opn-mind4 or accepting.. .The more women that are sucwsfuf,makes it essier for everybody else. (Female white ma&emati~snon-switchef.)
f t h M evevone here" p m y mueh used to having birght women around doing rnath and scienw. ft smms pr&y nomal. (Female whitc: mathematics nons*tehcr)
M e r e the fmulty md swdent M y are p r d o mtly m i e , the male eulbre is stranger, and it is more difficult far women to question, blerate, or chmge the atmavhere: There just a i ~ n ' tthat many girls, It keeps it very clubby. (Pernab while science s ~ t e h e r ) The fact that so many of them are men is a negative in the end, even if they don't tkwtly say anythhg to you are about being a. woman, Being all-men kind of ruins somdhing for you. It e e s sorneefring away from your education, eompard with other majors, It could have bwn so much better. (Female white science non-switcher)
able to e x w t the existing white m l e hegemony in the S.M,Ee acderny md in its associaa professions to be t r m s f o m d by f d i n g into its student body incrming numbfsrs of Qlented 18 ymr-old women who are toally unpmpard for the dif6culties they are likely to fa=. Eneoumggirls to develop their science md ~wthemticsabilitimand mo enter S.M.E. mjam is i m p o m t , However, it is also i grwt their e ~ t r m e et s college with a faeuXfy which is mare wetcorniag md suppoxlive of their &ten& thm is cutmentfy the a m , a d which looks mare like the rest af the ppulation. As some of our grdwting sniors clearky understood, the numbrs issue is w ~ n t i a f l ya power issue: I had no women teachers here. W e n I went to inkview at mdieal schools, out of 10 s~hoolswith five people on each panel, I only h& three women interview ne-and one af those w s a student. That's scary-all those men deeiding who gets ink medical school, (Female uthib science: non-swikhef.)
, m y be adoptkg We underswd that both we, md our smden a m p t the caveilt an sver-simple view of gender c l i m b chmge. offer4 by EtAawitz (1994) and athem that while the presnee of larger numbers of femle faculty atld smdents can promote a ctimte change which is bnefrcial till women in some simtions, in other instittltions, it provokes male ,conflict and power-stmggles in which w o r n are the lasers, is not acGevd. This is not, of course, an argument against bring the sex ratio in a c a d e ~ md e occupational science md enginwring closer to p a ~ t y . nistrators were actively In dvafiments where the chairs and wnio it harder for women to warking to chmge practices and attihldm which was mrkedfy higher. b n d to their major, the women" level of mti nd Setting the tone from the top clwrty mtters. In one department ta one College of Eaginee~ngwhere fwutty had made strong c
-dernic rtnd perwnal s u p p d for afl students, md to a more interactive teaching style, both male and female seniors reported good e x p e ~ e n wwith fuulty: he
You hear sbxties about enginm&g professas who don't want women in their classt=~.I k e never encountered anybody like that, Every professor I've ever met here was deE&td to have more women in his class. (Female whib e n g i n w h g non-s~teher) I must say, I'm ralfy plwseb with the p E c y h e y show here, I%e e x p r i e n d pmblems in jobs, but not here. (Female whitn: enghmdng non-switcher) I thhk the professors are eneouragd to encourage women, and they do anything they can to help you, I went to talk to a eouple of my professors before I left mwhanical mginwring and they said, W e think you should stay in the pmgmm, and this is why.. .."err=: are still some men here who have very baichard views of w m e n . But there are a lot of men here who are very grown-up, and think that wrnen have the fig& to be in these classes md trat them as absolute equals. I would say most are like that now. (Female white enginfs;e&g switcher) For the most part, we feel they Ye happy with the faet that wamm have w m e into the field. I%e never goEen the fmiing other than that I'm doing well, and even that I'm a bit more original than the men, I &ink most of the girls have t h d feeling, if not consciously, unconsciously, (Female white enginwring nsnswitcher) The profwsors went out of their way to be friendity and smi_te,and to make me feel cornfo*ble about a s h g questions, Starting out like that, X had no probbrns as X m o v d hta the u p p r levels-and I m& girls who had also had good experiences. (Female white science non-switeher)
As the East s p d e r indicates, once the eo tment to c h a g e is mde, atxd women beg& to fee1 the benefits of it, the effwts are cumulative. Encouraging fawlty to be more pro-sctive in their supprt of young women, afso aflows a more numring attitude toward young men. An imp-$ task fnr depadmental fmders is the deveIopmeat of a shrdent culwre that is intolermt of mde or discriminator)l behaviar, and in wbich the social ancl warking relationships of young men and women settle into more c o d a a b l e patkms: The women in the physics class I took last s p h g sec;;md very, very confi$errt in the labs, and in their ability to s p k out, X" sure it has a lot ta do with some of the changes that have gone on in the depa&ment. 1 really notied the change in the way women behavctd-and haw men spoke about then. (Male whiLC: scien~eswitcher)
312
Issues of Gender
If zl, pmfmsor says somet;thhg stupid about: women in class, you w a hear students m-g naisert in the audienw. Xt's s sensitive issue. It's Uen v e v se~ouslyhem. (Female rx/hik science sGbher)
h my early elmses, the guys t m w me as an equal. X was better in physics &an them, far the most part, but didn't expelrigace any pmblems bmause of
l for the gkls to date physics majors. In with offem. My boyfhmd fight now is the first person I've gone out with that wasn't in physics-he" hma&, (Femle white science non-set~her)
My friends and I would love to see mom women in thek elas~es-m e r e are so few of them, theyke atmost targeb-the cornwition here is for awess to them-for dates, I mean. Xn class, they always &@meta crowd. (Male white scic=nr ii, nurturing
The faeuXty know who we are beeause Ifrere's so few of us, Sa f get cater& to in a lot of ways. X We them szliying, 'Well, if you n d help, here" my home phone number.' 1 pick& &if school 'cause it was so small, and I was used to kindividual abntion at high school, (Femab native Aneriean scienm non-miteher) They need to get to h o w their students. Because what has heX@ me is the dean of elmt~cale n & n s f i g saying, Xi,how are you doing? How%yyaur classes?' And you just f e d like they really care. We h a r d I wasn%tdohg very well in one class and he sent his sms&ry to find me and make an appointment ~ t me, h ARd he's silXIung to give me tutoAng, and he gives me a little p p talk t e h g me that he writs to see me graduate. It rmtly helps. (Female
Hispanic enginwhg non-switches)
No other sadent r e p o d a d m of r a departmnt h a d w g n g them out to offer counsel ar encouragement. Sbdenb from high s h w l s where their own m i d or e t h i c group wm t were those most at risk s f a l a m 4 over-dependence on tachefs. Having sought in vain for individual attention from S.M.E. college teachers, they sometimes found emotional support through peer groups. However, they had ofien nat l a m e d how to work in grsups. Without a supportive mlationship with faculty or peers, these smdents were at especial risk of switching or of Imving college altogether, t was truly singular.
Ethnic C&tad Valures On evev a q u s , we fomd a set of eulWral iwemtivw, values, role ifie ta particular cu1Wrm eonflich and patems of hkwtioa. wtrieh were and wb-cultures, and had; s p i f i c sipificmm for S.M.E. persistence. The most safient o f tlaese are r e p r w n w in TabLe 6.2, We would expect to find the same dysfunetioad reIatiomEp b w m ~ these faicum md the persisbnce rates. of sbdents o f color in S.M.E. mjars on my othm ampus,
C ~ m m aAs ~ discus& , earlier, O b l i g ~ ~ oton report s h e g feeliags a f ob)igatim to =me and "repay' their the s u p p d they have receivd. This imprative plays a role i switch mjors for thaw shdents who see their ch cm urn their S.M.E. m j o r in =mice to their A big concern of a lot of black studenb is we fee1 I l e we're being prepared to go into whib copralc: h e r i c a , and it wont rmlly help our communityvve won't have the oppftunity through our carmm to give back to the community. Anything that we do for the community would be outside of our academic field, and (hat's a very st=rious concern. X h o w it was for me, and it's also somdhing that X hear expressed. People are always trykg to &nd out if there are any coqomtions own& by black people that r ~ l l ydeal with ? many opportunities to do that, students community issues. As there a ~ n too are aiways trying to t h i d of ways to c r a k some. I don't think fh atypical at atf. X t h it% ~ s a e ~ o u swneern. (Female black enginmring swieeher)
Some MW their ea u ~ t obligation y as a part of their student role and not as something that could be put off until gmduation. They w r e active in loeaf ty ~tialtiver;or naional arganimtiarrs md fsunid it difficult to mwt these obligations as well ais the dc: ds of S.M.E. mjors: I've alvvqs had this obligation, My mother has always stressexl, how lucky I am, and so X give back to the community. And, you know, X don't think &&'S work ~t all, X think that" a good thing to do and f do it all the time. But sometimes X wince through the deeisions basd on doing that, and neglecting my own needs. E was stretched out for a while, working f 5 hours a wwk its a tutor at the Hispanic Cenkr, being a b u r guide, being a pnetist, being contfibuthg editor for our newspapr., .At some p i n t you've got to stop beling the emsader, but you feel kind of guifty, or selfish. (Male Hispanic enginwring non-swikher)
Responises b thew fmiintgs of obligation fallow fairly prdietable patbms: some are shard by mveml groups, md m m are spwifie to pa&iculraf sub-cultures. Far exampie, black studants from imerr-city eo ities, shtdents from g Hispanic groups, and native h e ~ m from belief that tbey should mwt their obligations bry rem after wllege a d rasing their ducation to improve the quality of life of unity membrs, By contrast, y Asim-Americm students, atld n;.ilive
TABLE 6.2 Comparison by RaciaYEhk Gmup of Cultural Values Expressed by Non-White Students.
Obligation to m v e community
Yes
No
Yes
No
Yes
No
Obligation to be r role model
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
No
C d i c t betwean rtudentffamily roles
Yes
No
Yes
No
Yes
No
Educational goals defined by parcats
No
No
No
Yes
No
No
Encounged to be relf-rrreitive
No
Yes
No
No
No
No
Encouraged to bc self-relirnt/autommous
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
Yes
Suppor\ive, effective peer group culture
No
No
Yes
No
Yes
No
m urbm a r ~ share , , a =mice orienQtion w m o b n t?xprmd altm m n rts a mtter of hdividwl choice, not as a culturaf impmtive. The strongest by Hispmie shdenls wba obligation was m~mowly the duty to repay unities. For them, the earwr A&er I earn my advanced degrw in denti&g, I want to go back to my hometaw and help those in the eommunity wlto helped me, mat's my payback. I want to r&um the eonthbutions made to me, back to the: community. (Mab Hispanic seimee non-g~tcher)
Behg raised in a middle-elss environmnt did not necesarily d u c e nity. There was, bowever, less st-udentsknse of duty to %we their CO agreement among eddle-class black shndents than among other rniddleclass st-udents of ealor a b u t how to irtterp rwpnsibility, m e children of black u ~ t presentd y their o m suecss as praEessionaEs raised in the m j a ~ t y unity membms, and as a a way to raise the qirations af symbfie acbievemmt for their group. The inteqrektion,d o e n m t among black, urbm, woxkhg-class shdents s t r a d the revnsibility of working far pIitictil1, social md =anontic ehane. As a group, middle-class blwk students expremecf more imer than swdents OF m y other grow a h a t haw best to mwt their sense mity obligation: Some black p m p b say, 'If f do well then I" helping the community just because I'm doing well.Wthc=r~ p f see e that as a seUI-out, saying, 'No,that's not truly helping the eommunity. You n d to be involved,"Female black science switcher)
Witsn the s m l l group of native Americms intewiewed we also found unity service should be differences of ezginian a b u t how the obligati0 presws the impsmnce addressed. h the following extmcts, the first of ensuring the suwival of cultural pride and tradition; the pragmtie approach to the a d s of lhis pwpIe and concludes that them: A h r graduating, 1 plan to study native ArnefiGan Studies and bring our history and a native American curriculum back into the sckaol system on the resewation. Or perhaps 1% apply it to a college where, like here, there" nno native h e f i c a n studieg at all, (Male native American science switcher) Unless: you'm in psychology or sociology, you can" go back and work with them-wnork with some of the problems like alcoholism. But not if youkre a scientist. I m a n , when I came here I p r a y much knew 1 wasnk ggonna go back home. I sttiyed away from having a family when X was home. I didn't want to be tied down, f never did raUy have frimds, so I never e t tied dawn and I ean s&y away. (Male native American science switcher)
340
h u e s of k c e and Ethnic&
The only shldents of color who (as individuals) did not express a sense of ohgigation to =me fbeir ty of origin. were Asia-Amefiem atld bIack
dddXe- mid uppr-elms students.
Obligorion to he a Role Model. An important abligatioa is offering one% s l f as a role yomger membrs of tbe group. Even ~ d d l w l i ~As s i m - h e ~ c mand blwk smdents, who shard the mb-cuIbres in &eir group stressed this rmpnsibility: if X decidd to s ~ @ out, h I would feel f let people down--.l& mysdf dom-against p p l e who say, 9 Xknw she muMn%do it, 3 r d thd", that's a lot of pmsure, (Female black science non-switeher) There are: very few presenhtions of academic exwuenee in the black community. So we fw1 we are supposed to do well, and if we don'tt, it" kind of devashting. Teause it's not just yourself youye representing, it's the whole eornmunity. (Female black science non-switcher)
However, pen;isknce in an S.M.E. m j o r w a nat usually scxm as m aspect of role m d e l obligation. I?lative h e f i w sadents were among those who ty pride as f w u s d grimhly on gduation from college, not on any pa&iculrar mjor. sbdents found it w i e r to switch mjors, s h m they could fulfil1 their role m&ei obligation in mrwrs outside of the scimces: mere's a laek of mle: modets on the resewation and also law e x p b t i o n ~or ho~zons,Even though I switch4 majors, they am cauntirrg an me to graduate and be an example for the other kids, (Male native A m e ~ c anta& switcher)
Sbdents who d i s c w d their obifigation to be role models in hare-orient4 MW it as a privilege afld a wurce of pride, n o s e who p e r ~ e i v dthis as a cumat obligation found it an onerous duty which i n c r ~ the d other pressures af their mjors: Being held up as a, role model, it's a big problem. Pmple just want you to so bad,. .but it%just too much prmsure put on you. (Male Hispanic e n g h m ~ n gnon-switcher] if you come from a mino&ty background, evevane is foIlowhg your every move. X'm mused ta that, and it sucks somethes. M e n things are going g r a t , I m a n , youye on top of the wrld-but when you fall, people have such e x p b t i o n s that wefyone" ddisappinM, No one knows what to say. (Make Hispanic enginm~ngnon-switcher) Just bwause youke a minority youke held up as an -ample for other high schoo) kids to do weu-to be on a par with the non-mino~tyenginwrs. And when you don't,. .. ( b n g pause,) Eveqbody was Ie-t down when I wuldn't take it in engin=&ng, everybody in the whole valleyeI, I I& evevbody down, not just mysdf. (Male Hispanic enghwring switcher)
&sues of Race and Ethnicity
341
Because success in s c i m t m s e d majors is not usually included in definitionsof good role-modeling which are common in their sub-culhae, the cultural imperative tended to favor switching in order to graduate rather than persistence in an S.M.E. major.
Conprcl Between A d m i c ond FmUy R e s p o n s i b ~ s As . already indicated, conflict between responsibility to one's nuclear or extended family and the demands of an S.M.E. major were common themes in interviews with black students from the inner-city, Hispanic students and native Americans From reservations. For the latter two groups, close ties to tha extended family created the need to return home for kin celebrations or in response to types of crisis that students from other cultures would see as important only in their nuclear families: I come fiom a rather closeknit family. When both of my grandparents were ill, that took a lot of attention--trying to go home every weekend. My family is not just my immediate family-it also includes my extended family. (Male Hispanic engineering switcher) Native Americans stick together back on the reservation. They love going back for all the celebrations and they also feel they have to go back for problems in the family. Sec, all of this is just from what 1 hear when I Mor them, 'cause personally, I never experienced it. I grew up here in the city. I just know they like to hold on to their culture, and I can understand that. I think sticking close to home and keeping the tics you grew up with would be better. That's just the way their lifestyle is, and it's harder when you're so far away. (Female native American math switcher)
The fhmily responsibilities of most inner-city blacks and most Hispanics oftem included making regular financial contributions toward the support of immediate and extended family members. They discussed the conflicts this created, especially making sufficient time for their academic work. Many of these students were also responsible for their own tuition: I have my mother and my sister that I've been supporting for the last four and a half years. And in that time period, I've always worked full-time and overtime. So school is l i e the part-time thing I have to do to get through and finish. (Male Hispanic science non-switcher) I work 30 hours. It's a lot. I'm not only working, I have to take care of things at home too-my partnts, three younger brothers and two young sisters. That's why my grades are going down. (Female Hispanic science switch-)
Students who shouldered both family economic obligations and paid for much or all of their own college education felt that most faculty were unaware of the heavy burden that they carried and were apt to judge them unfairly:
342
Issues of Race and Efhnici~ Sometisnes faculty tend to forget that at the same time X was ping to school, I was w o r b g &E-the a8 the way thmugh to support myself and my aunt and uncle. (Male Hispanic e n e e e k g skteher]
I haven't e x p h e n d a n e i n g negative from any of the dqartnzenb here. But I do t k r d that faeuity are kind of v& from the educational plight af mino~tim,They fed you should g& exeiw about sciences. But it% skid of hard Lo do &at when yout= trying to gay your mnt or support your parenb.. .You have a whols: buneh of ather things that you hwe tO take care of besides scienm, w a l e Hispanic s i e n w non-s~kher]
le play4 by hufic-ienteduational hndhg h the from lower-inwme famtilies w t h white ted nonh a d , md the extra; financial load of fa&fy responsibilities f t h w sbdents on the other, Undersmding the wnonnic all wafing-elms sbdenb, espwially Chase in S.M. E, 'ars where a c & e ~ ebemmds on stutdenits3time are ofien the greatest, wm
They strwd the-
difficulties facing
Many of the students, We myself, also are pualng themselves through school, So on top of h t , 1" tqing t-o supprt my maher and younger brother and sisbm-my mother, she's not marrid and she's too sick to work. So I work two jobs, but it doesn't t h g in mmueh, I got n d - b a s d tuition, but that" just based on what they thkk you need. There's no rwognition of your need to suppart a family. Youye always semping to get finances, which makes it very difficult at tima, (Male bkck science switcheO Of the p p l e who do drop out, usually a large chunk of it is financial. I would say 20, 25, maybe even 30 p-erwnt is financial, It's h r d , and then there's abays the burden that to stay at the univemity X have to work, l*m h e first
generation of my family to go to college and I'm mot coming out of the solid middle-class $80,000 to $ t W , W family.,. W i b studentscan go skiing during the wwkend. I don? t a w that luxur;y, mere" definitely a tremendous money gap. (Male black enginmring switcher)
1" on the President" Ceommiam an the Retention of Students. A major issue is financial dif"6culties.Ethnic groups are the hardest: hit, W e n the tuilian goes up, black, Hispanic and native American students suffer most bwause they have fess incame coming in,..bck of money far sehocll is a growing problem for all students, but it's compundd baause of race. (Male black enghmring s k t ~ h e r ) I remember my first couple of years I w s a~tuallywrking my class schedule around rrty work schedule. You know, I was more wonrid about, Will I have enough t h e to work?". ..As a mino~tygoing to school, your work is more impomnt than your academies. (Male Hispanic enginwring non-switeher)
Obligation to extend& kin was not a problem for any of the Asianh e r i m s we interviewed. I n d d , the safe f a ~ l xespansibifity y deseriberf by
Issuss of Race and Ezhnieig
34.3
h i m - h e r i a students W= that of givhg their total atkntion md very h t eRo& to heir role as firll-time sbdmb. Being s h l in schml md in their carwrs byond was what the fa&iy expeew of them, Shrdents across all. Asim eulhres reprmnted in our sample, r e p d that their fadliw-avea those- who were not wellloff-mught to provide sufficimt finmciaI supprt to allaw their ~ K l d r e n ktotal concentration oa adennic work, To do this, f a ~ l i e had s S& aside fun& for collrrge s b w their children were born, -1y threie of the AsimAme~m students in our mmple work& w ~ l atteadin$ e mhool: Cornkg fmm a lower+lass b~ckgmund,it's harder to dm1 with things X supgose, We haven? always &R middl~ctas~. Now weye weU-off. X think with a lower-class Hispanic background, it probably would have been harder because of the financial problems, There" no way f could work to pay for ~ n t food , and cotlege tuition, and still g& a dece;nt G.P.A. (Female AsianAmehcan science switcher)
The difference m& to a c d e confide~w-by the experience (even b ~ e f i y )ww poipmtly offer4 a place in a Harvard su
ta their focus and selfnmciaX help for grm.ted riM by one black m l e senior who was
They paid for everyehing! I had nothing to do but study and that was the first, and onXy, t k e as a student where I had nothing to w o w about but going to class and studying all day long, It was beautif'ul, f swar, it war; magnificent. b t u r e s bwanxe msy . Class was msy. I was sway, you know, not wolryiag about home. Money was no issue-I even had spnding money, It w s like being in hmven, and I got As in two very difficult coumes in an &gfit-wmk program. From that point on X knew that doing well kn%just about intelligence, (Male black science non-switcher)
The impaet of e c o n o ~ crwpnsibilities on the rebntian of of wlor is clear, Many Hiqmie, black md native b e r i c m s who had left S.M.E. majors exprased the relief they felt in, being able to m i n k i n r e s w t able grades in less demmding majors even while hlfiXIing their e~onsknicaad other faanily obligations, most? who were still stmggling to conflict debated wbetfier it wm worth staying in their original mjor: Lmt year I was working 60 hours a week and X would wait until the day before the exam, then read the five chapkrs, then wondm, y" did X get this C?" only spent a day studying, sa I guess a C was okay. But I wish I had m j a r d in aomdhkg fuzzy, kause I pmbably could have graduated with all As, (Femab black science non-switcher)
Contrary to w ~ t studeats%liefs, e over half (56.9%) of the sbdents of color from poor-er f a ~ l i e sin our awls (i.e. 33 out of 58) had few financial resourms other than their o m paid employment. This obsematian undermres the consistent Frnding that financial difficulties play a major role in minority
ktion in the mien-. It aim vali (for example, by the Matiaaal Seim~eFounhtios) away from " ~ n a r i t y grogmm" h favar of i q r o v d finmcial dtpprt for all able sWe:ne &om poomr fa~Xies,
Bduwtr"omI G&$ &fi~ed try P~mnts,Far the most part, witchms who wem bIwk, H i s p d c or native h e f i m r m d &eir fah2im had b n suppdive when t h y chmged mjors, Agak, the fact h t they did not drop out of college altogether m m g d f a ~ l yor co ty dimppohtment that they would g&=& wri&aut m S.M.E. degrw: M y mom told me-l" the oldest of chm kids--she said, 'You're the tmilbhzer.Vot doing eng&ahg was mlly dlappointhg, but I didn't quit college. So my graduatbg will be a very irnprtant a s p t of Ifieh eve^, because they've smn me do it, so they know that they can do it too, [Male black enginmhg switeher)
t is ppical of all shdents of color wha witehed, acept Asianh e h m s . Mmy h i m - h e f i m sMenb depicw f a ~ l i e sas goalarienw, md &eir pamnts m &atharibrim .The mjor that they choose, as well as the gradw they f a ~ X yb w a w they are smn as sbps on the rod cial grwtige, Role-mdelbg, other than in. wupations s not culItum~liy-mpprted,and the idea of ducation f'or its o w take is de-emphmid md devafud: Many mhorilies who enter scienw, do so b w u s e their p a ~ n t s as , my faher did, rmmmended they go &a the scienee and math Eegds. For me it was M to go okay. But for my older brother it wss a burden, My father e x ~ hirn into math and science, but in high school he was inbrat& in art and he Eked to paint. My parenb said, "an% go into that. There isn%any h t u in ~ that. " So my bmther iis@aeCt ta my pamnta and major4 in matfi. But aRer a while, be d a i d d it wasn't far him and he leR school, Now he" sanr_ic=d and is w o r b g as a cook. (Male Asian-heriean science non-switcher) Asians have p r a y tightly-hit families and their pren& usuaUy have very high e x p k t i o n s of their childmn and push &mvery, very hard to meet those tions. f rmlly don%see that in other familiie;s. Theykre kind of obsessive about it.. .They s a m to have that final goal in life as simply ta hit it big, to be successful. Thtat,swms lcind a f unhealthy, but at the: same time that mrnakes you strive very high. m a l e Asian-American science non-switeher)
Parental pressure made it very difficult for Asian-American students to declare or w i k h to a major in a field with no obviaus earwr atmbed to it. &e of the Asian-American mginmring students had u n d e ~ e an double major rather than completely opt out of his e s tment to engineering, He bad not told his parents how he felt:
Issues of Rwe and Ethnicity
34.5
There" a lot of p ~ s s u min my farn3y. mat% she= I am right now. I mmn, if they wem't thew, 1 probably would be doing an Engfish major right now. For mother h i m - h e f i a sEudent, the whole mivemity expe~encewm aa h d ~ s s i b l aen a a e m : My pawn& knew I ww having some pmblems, but I never told them I had bmn kick& aut and then rmdmitleb. From then an, f just did not want to go to sehool. I lost all ambitian and X just h f e d s~hoolilX still dislle it but I*m doing it because !'m almost done. In an h d h t vvay my psrents are puahg a lot of pmsure on me. They c a m fmm Japan and want their kids to have a b-r lilies But I just can't g& hta studying and going to cIass. (Female AsianAmerican science: switeher)
For h i a n - h e ~ c ms b d m t s who had never questioned the values of their fannily and culture, and had not, therefore, explord non-science inbrests prior to college, the decision to switch was particularly devastating: all they had taken h granted ww suddenly cat14 inb question. All of the Gsian-American students who encamterd problem in &eir original m j o r s rev^ difficulty in telling their parents. Siblings o h n had more undestanding of their dile and could km turn& to for supprt: I had akady appl-ierf to study in Nepal and been a c c q t d , and X didn? tell my parents, I fmally called them up and X said, 'Maybe I'll go to NepaX to study phgosaphy. 'They just blew up. So X told my sister and Ihe: next day she e a u 4 up my parenb-she" like the diplomat of the; family-and she smoothed:things out and, like, now it% okay. (Male Asian-American enginmhng s ~ k t z e r ] The following advice wm given to a fwas group p r who had not yet told his parents he had. svvikhed from 'pm* to miology a y a r erarlier. The strategy
advoeatd was to play off one traditional Asim f a ~ f value y against mother, so that changhg mjan was presenw as the l m s r of two evils: 1% give you a tip that wrkeb when I changed -to history. Thrmten your parents 16th bad gmdes, Tell them, 'Well, if I keep taking these science and mark eouma I'II get Bs and B-s and a couple C+s."nd then they" s h a p up. They want that G.P. A. more than anphing else. (Female Asian-American science sktcher)
N o m i t h h d i n g , the rwtrictians in their choice; of a first or a sllbwuent y Asim-Ameficaa. sbdents e x p r e s d a strong s e w of eeminty a b u t their f a ~ l y ' slove a d coneem. Although switc;hing m-t challenging strongly-held fannily vaIuw, it ww dso clear that love aaid duty were mutually suppoftd in their f a ~ l i e s The . follawixxg response wm offer4 in a focus group of A s i m - A m ~ i c mnon-switchem whem we p s e d the question o f haw their f a ~ l i e swwfd rmct had they switch4 to a non-science major. AEter a thoughtfiil silence, one young m m replied:
346
Issues of Race and Efhnlieig
My dad would still love me, but he would be very, very disappointed. X muldn" t o that to him.
The sabjeict of parental love arosr: ~ n m m u s l y in intewiews with b t h male
aed femle Asim-Ameim sludents. 'They chom particular wrwr dirwtions m d permvered through p ~ o d sof aeaderni~diffi~ulti they h e w their parents I o v d them and w m t d the k t for them. ather st?udents also ts by swikhing or e x p r m d concern not to dimppint or anger thei g poor g&=, no other gmup of s w ~ n b itteluding , white sWden&, e x p r w d quib this seam of mum1 obligation b a d on the ceainty af rwipr-l love: W e n I graduated from high school, I didn" t o w a whole lot, sa I foHowed my fa&er*s mommenddian and bmame a physics major. We loves me. We must know whire is best for me, (Male Asian-hedcan seienee non-switcher)
f 'm prfmtly bppy and it woukl distmss me k, fmI I was somebody who got scar& away from changing their major simply because I made concessions to my parenb. I Iove them, h d I'm making these wncessions bwause my parenb are; totally worth it in the end*(Mate Asian-Ame~anscience swit~her)
C~ltumlRestmiitts on SeIf~fAs~edveness, Broadily spdirrg, most shdents of eolor were more self-@Racingthm white shdenb iund less prone to take ;tetion when they ram into problem on c a q w , h i t exwpliocr are those black sbdents from higher mcio-ecanonnic groups whom culture affi rims, md who &renot t i h d in pursuit of their a ~ a d e h md c e a r e r interats. By contrat, imerciaW with initialUy who were black eaU& me a w a a g eneyelowia, I ww rihicuIteJ;tthrough high school and my fast couple yeam hem.bmause I knew et k t about a, tot of different thhgs. So now all my fdends are whib. (Female black engi;na&g switcher)
Ostracism of succ&ssfulblack students by their peer group is stronger within mjom than in groups fom& in the hu es; md social siencm , the mom difficult the course work, the the black p m group uses an providing s u p p d &rough failure, It does not, therefore, sponheously develop the knetim of hdping eaeb other ts s u ~ c by d studying tonether. This leaves the black &dents wha are doing we11 in S.M.E. mjors with the &aim either of being Ionerg tbughaut college, W of wiLefiing to majors allow where there is less need for p r groups w h m sate hnetioff i s members who are stmggtixzg to vent their fmtratioas, of h i m - A m e f i w peer groups; in S.M.E. mjors were also stysfunctionaf to persistenw for mm@of their m m b r s , but the m w h d s m worked in the apposite direction from that found in blaek pwr groups in that it p l a d at risk those in w d e ~ difficulties, e =&er success, Sadeats from h i m backgrounds dmcri descriw by non-Asim pectrs) as highly effwtive in However, Asim-Amenw stuidents who e x p r i e n d dificuf ties with their course work repf"t4 t h t their peer groups afferd no help or sympathy md withdrew from &em mially. M y s a w s s was m p p d : Tailurebdieitr3 diapprovaf and social rdsction. m i s oe p r groups repfiat@f a ~ l presmrw y to in the sciencm md place m much emphasis on high g r d as ~ do th the value placed an fis.gh g d e s that is b t i l l d by parents through active involvement in homework and the monitofing of their children" sueational progrms is hcowmH into the p r group ~uIture,The over-arching peer group no are &at one shou2d b industrious md that one always demwem; the g r d e rweived. The affwtlive dimension that is sa- effative in other pwr groups in a f f i e n g md r e b i a g memkrs who lmk df-confidenee is ~ s s i n h ;infAsiiul-Ameriw peer graup cuf&re. Suppft a d a% on is o f f e d to those who are daixlg well, but not to those s m b g emotiormaf wpprt thorough pe~crdsof lower& caafideace or ifesw by shaming and b l a ~ n g poor acadeaaie perfa thaw who are not
I was Eelling everybody, 'Hey, I*m doing so tedble, my grades are so bad,' and they're like, WeI1, why don't you study more?" was like, You don't even underswnd, M e n I g& home I study alIl night long. X don't even fml Ur: I'm m a h g any pmgress,Vne rason it took me so long to get out of engineehg is because they canvine4 me I just wasn" trying hard enough. (Male Ashn-American enginmring switcher)
Asian-American students often questioned the purpose of this study. They found it puzzling that we should attempt to determine why students switched majors: .witch.ers were inferior sbdentis who either could not ""fick it,n or wem unwilling to put in the effort to inclined thm were ather students either to complain a b u t the d S.M.E. majors or to question the appropriateness of the competitivec I think the most effective filter for science Is who wants to do it. And pwple who don't want to do seiene-e are gel=& out. It% better for them, and it's b&kr for me. There should be no aaempt to eneaucrrge people who wouldn't naturally do it, (Male Ashn-Ameriean science non-switcher)
Beeause the Asian-Ame~can p r group is largely foeused an the instrumenhl, Wk-orienM hnetion of study, there is no autfet far its memkrs to vent their fmstrations or fmrs. Because of culWraI emphmis an individualism md success, it is a e n for g r m t d that to complain or seek suppofl fmm others is not only u n m d y ,but is m admission of a flaw in moral eharwter: Strangely, my Asian friends don" rally talk about difficulties theykre having. There" some cultural training so that you Ye not gonna. stae complaining.. .X don't hear mueh complaining from them, (Female white engineering switcher)
b ~ k i n gaRwtive support. on campw and perceiving themwives to be a dimppoktment to their farrtilies, tbe solution to the problem of a sinking G .P.A, is often to switch mjors. Of all the students we intewiewd, Asian-herieans were the least belined to be either relieved or h q p y a b u t their dwision to , dmerted tcly their peers and switch. They felt they had hiled their f a ~ l i e sbeen socially isofatd in their new mjar &&use, oubide of S.M.E. mjors, AsianAmrtticms are an under-represent& group. nt wm offer& by an Asian-Ameficm senior m ~ o ~ n g in physics, He .;tceurateIy pinpoints s o m of the problem for st-tldents of color in, S.M.E. ma~ors.Despite his insight, b t h he and other Asim-heri-cm students did not p o ~ r a ymembers of their own group expfiencing these di fficuities: The way it's set up, people take all of the blame onto themselvm when things go wrong-and that's not the whole story, And people go off into another major and spend the rest of heir lives thinking they are losers. It's a real problem for evevane, but it" worse for Hispanics and folackg, Blaming
fsfues of Race and E$hnici&
354
yourself, h s m d of smhg all the ways things are set up for so many pmple to faif, is rally the cnrclial issue. You f wX you have: ta take responsibility for your own stuff-but
t h t k not all of the probtem.
The dyshnctiona8il;y of peer groups for black sxld Asian-Americm S.M.E. students wo&s on the phciplte: sbdents who violate pwr group no d e h i n g approved acdedc p r h o s t m i d ) =&er thm sapp&d. H. #ever, the for w h group is exmtly opposib. The followkg who had taken sveral m g h w ~ g to the contrmt bwwn the s u m s s From my experience here, E think that the Asian community has more of an individuslistic aaittlde to success. f think they very much identify with mainstrmm suemss. I know they supp&each other, but individual suwess is extPemely i m p m n t to them. And it% not at all the same as the African-hefican community where a group identity is a lot more i m p m n t than individual suwess*
mroughout this smtion we have stmssed h e p i n t that padicufar fmares of racial and e t h i e group c u l h r a hwe impliations .for the way in which their rnembrs define approphab bhavior and respond to the sihations they encounter in S.M.E. mjors. We do not, however, m m to imply that pwple arc primners of theit.. culture. The values that are instill4 as s mtter of saeiafimtion witEn my group are midelixres; the longer people are away from the group, the less they feet tied to its values, A native American student stated this quite suwinctly, albeit mdly : S p k i n g h m my traditional baekgmund, you have ta sacrifice many things from that trrsditian in order to come to school, to get an ducation. That's a big problem for me, ft feels the longer f stay here, the mare I'm being cut off from those ties. That" s h y X want to return after I graduate. To p back to get in touch with what I may, ar may not, have lost, (Male native American math switcher)
I n t e m l b t i o n of Negative Stereariypes and its Colzsequences Everyone &quiresa sscial identity that defines who they are in relation to define or evailwte ourselves without Wing into =count other pwple. W and eva1uat;e us. M e n this fmking-glass self reflwb how we think o negative stereotypes about wha md what we are, them is the danger that p p l e m y develop "spoil& identities" (G t %3), Negative ethnic stermtypes have the power to erode self-estw se, when negative kliefs that are generatid to an entire racial or e t h i c group are a b s o r w by its individual members, the gmup hatrd generaleci by others m y be convert& to self-hatd. At the very least, an internalid negative stermtype em cause tbose who rweive it to have serious doubts about their abif ities..
Igsues of R ~ e eand Ethnkit)r
355
Variations in the ways in. wGch m i d md e t ~ groups c are cfiaracteriA can be t r a d to the hir;tor.ical circummces from w&eh they grew. 'They c m be clssifi& by the ways in w%ch ~ n o ~ groups t y hawe hbrwted with the dorninmt group, The particular sets of stereotyp applied to blacks, Hispanics md native Arne-8 evolved from the =me expressed n d of the wEte with whit@. mus, intelligent in self-intemted ways. Some sbreotypes sgsifically pe&in to m i a l and e t h c groups on campus- for example, the judgment that bf ack and Hispanic students intelligent tbm w ~ t eor ; Asim-Arnefim studals, as evidenced by the presumption that entrmce r q u i r e m n e are routinely lower4 in. order to quotas. 'This view, widdy expressed by white students, was a sour- of rewntment wGch rekforced the prejudice that (non-Asian) st-udents of coEar were less-qwlified than white studenb, Wether affi ve action pidelinon caIlege ampusw do or do not lower the a b ~ s s i o n scritefiai lFar padicular shdents is, in this eontext, imehvant, f t is the sterwtyp itself that damges inter-racialtethic retationshiw, mt the paeicular policy that is in force. More sipifimtly, this stermtype Bamges the ~If-nmpt of black md Hispmic studentri- by u n d e e n i n g their confidence to prsist, regardless of their ac-l level of ability or preparation: Same of the tatina students heard =marks like, "Oh, youkre- here just to fill quotas, "or, Y o u c a m in with Xower sbndards than other studenls, ' Same minority students begin to feel that the standards were lower4 for them, and felt like they were eompting with p p k who were aE a higher calibre, That put a lot of stress and anxiety on them. (Female Hispanic a g i n w k g nonswiteher)
I'm half Hispanic myself, but I didn't put h a t down on my card bwause I felt if I was accepted as a Hispanic student I would farever be wondering if that was why I got in. I didn't want to Live with that, so I'm glad I didn't. (Fiemate Hispanic seience switcher)
Many shdents of color who mavrsd to the social wiences were well aware of the distinctionbemwn ascriM s b b s (like gender and ethoicity) and achievd s h h s (which is g&nd through education, m u w i o n or income). Srudents of colior who hacl a t h i n d the grades nwesmry for college &mission w r e demoralid by the stermtypf: that discount& their achievement and presented &eir admission as m ascribed sbturs Wre-11, a lot of my class-mates thought I got in bc;eause of my skin color, and that affwtc=d me a lot. You know, they dictn" accept me beeause of my
356
lsgues of Race and Efhnicig
InteKgence. h d so I did bad. I've never gomn the grades that I should have, bmsuse that was always in the back of my h a d , and it affwtd my performan-. (Male black scienee non-s+kher)
all shdats of mfor had e x m e n d the eoaquenem of b i n g sbrwtyM, their mdersmdhg af the m a r e and impiiwtionsof the proceess for smden6 in other ~n0rilt.ygroups ww m r e profound thm that af white sbdents: AXl mhofitiw-in some fashbn-sham Gammn problems.. .Everybody has the common gmund of behg minority, but on& in your s p i f r c gmup do you undersbnd how you get t r a t d . . .B-use v p f e may see me like a skmtypic thing, 'Well, she%black, she may not know as much. ' Or an Asian would be like, 'Oh, they know everything.30 they have different things hitting them, Ike I have different hings hining me. (Female black science non-switcher)
A11 non-white?students could dwcribc?the sterwtypw that were used about their o w group as well as those in ceireulatim &out other groups: The negative stermtyp of a Hispanic is of hmigrants and jaw-paying jobs. Hispanic-hathg p p k have stereotypes of iflegal immigrants...Maybe they "G used to seeing the maid in their house, (Male Hispanic engineering switcher) Sensitivity towards minodties is both good and bird, They consider you the epitome of native Americans. h 4 that" rally distmcting, On this campus youke usualiy g r d d with a Eale fascin&ion a r tobl ignorance. A lot of p p f e " connotations of native h e ~ c a n are s still conneetd with old westem pictures. (Male native h e h a n science switcher) In the engineehg school the stereotype of black is: "lack students always sit in the back of tke class,? '"Black students don" ask questions,' 'Black studenb are all guys,""BIack studmts g& schalarslhips bwause theyke blsrck.' God, it's so namow! (Male Hispanic engineering non-switcher)
Nowever, sbdents in one ~ a o r i qgroup d g h t atso express the d a ~ n a n t [white) stermtyp about sNents h mother Illinority group: For blacks, the motivation from home isn't that strong to pursue sam&hing that could be comptitiw. (Male Asian-Amefican science non-switcher)
A s i a n - h e ~ c msWenEs suffer4 from the with particular significance for S.M.E. enrollment and persistence: that AsianAmericans tend nauratty to exeel in mtbemtics and mience and have fimit-ed interest in other a c & e ~ cfieE&: There is this assumption that if you have Orienbl parents or grandparents you m m $be good at math and science, which is so untrue, X'm rnr~allybad at it, to teil you the truth. X mean, X enjoy biology a lot, but chemistry and math just didn"
d to
it for me. (Female Asian-Amefican scien~eswitcher)
The Asian-hefi~anstr=reotype, you know, that I'm muppsed to be smarter than the averall(:person, mere" times when people assume Itm sma&and say,
"Oh, you don't have to study as much as X do."emale science non-switcher)
Asian-herican
w i k h e r d w r i M the eoaistraints an his field c h o i m of this wellintentioned ethnic stereotyping by -hers as 'being put in a little bamboo cage. * Both non-Asian-hericao shldents of color and white students expressed - h e f i m shdents, far e x a q l e , that f 8 ~ of b d y and, thus, an @mfaircompetitive they have %e
&vmtagem:
It's hard b earn* d t b &ern. Some of them are so dedicate8-the;y bury the2 heads in the books for days, or wmks. They don" do onfihing else. If you ask hem, "at did you do over the wmkend"? they didn" do anything but study. I'm thinking it" their Asian upbr*inging, being rally d&icaW and non-social, (Female Hispanic science non-s&tcher)
I'm not by any mmns m ~ i s t ,But with the Asian studmts, it bwames unnerving when you go to the enghwring libmry and it's dark and dingy in the basement.. .mt3ykre all Asian studentsjust b u f i d in there, cramming away. You b o w , 1ICreyh rr:hnically inch&, smart, and they.. .they don" have a soeia1 life to be prfwtly honest, (Mate bhck s n g i n m h g switcher)
We emmuate& m even more insidious skrwtype of A s i m - h e ~ m s , mation& by wfioite 8hdmtS only, 8tld alw%ysp r w n ays clariified that we were inquifing oniy a b u t those Hawever, we invafiably had h rdirwt the fwus of wh diseussioln a b u t 'Asims" from fa ta Amfiean-hnn shdents, and s o m ~ of our htemiewms were unable tca this distinction: on
men: am 40 ~
p l inemy ~hemhEstr;yckss and I 2 say about ei&t of them axe minority f;tudenh. I think aey're Japaneseherican-r Japanwe. I'm not sure if they" h e ~ e a n (Male . whik sebnw non-swibher)
Most of our mhority studenb are Asian. A lot of them are coning from ovmr=as, so 1" just not sure if any of them are; American-born. [Female whik sg~ienwnon-switcher) Now this sounds like a mHy, rmfXy m~istthing to say--1 never noticed any American-born mino~tiesin the e n g h w h g chjarsses. Maybe I just wasn't paying agention, (Male white: e n g h w ~ g s~kher) Americans who are of Oriental dimcent, who s@ with Galihmio ssfang are mpidly being assimilatd into the euttum. It% almost as thou& they"@ BeIBemtely doing it. (Male white enginmring non-switcher)
The legal b a ~ e r to s eitimnship for Asians were a b i i s h d in 1952, but aver 40
years later, Asizlunnegatives t e r w t y p of blacks, Wispdcs, md native A m e ~ m have s hnetiond
3-58
Issues of R a e and Ethnicity
to convhm them they arc: hferior to w&ttes. The stemtype of Asian-Americans as foreipem hddg tfie potential of fml like aliem in &eir own cowtry. In their struggle to br? B n as bdividmls, mane sbdents faust deal not only with negative racial or ethnic stereotypes, but with the additional stereotypes of gender, or of fiaving an atMetic shofarship: If 1 was a man-a Cauwsim m m with a 2.7-1 would have been fmc. But there I ant with a 2 . W h g fmale and a mino&ty, and I feel Iike an idiot. I'm not an idiot, but sometimm it% hard tf, beGeve hat use of what theyke always te&g you. (Female Hispank e n g h w h g s ~ t e h e r ) I've felt when I wab siaing in class, they wem t h h k g , 'Here's the dumb foott7all player with his hand u p , h r , Were's 8 black that doesn" g& it.' There" somdhing t b t goes Chraugh yaMr mind and sornethes it muses you to be hesitant about a s b g a question, (Male black enginw~ngswitcher) Here you are stmggling ~ C the h course work and athleti~sand then you have ta prove to other p p l e that youke not the dumb jack. A lot of athletes don't n d that. And those of us who are bkck don't n d hat either. (Male black science switcher)
mese &&dentsdem~bedhaw the double or triple sbrmtype is ttansmittd: X went ta see the atfiletie academic advisor and she inskntly assum& that I was unintefigent and s & d siping me up for classes that were insulting to me, X felt that I was being looked at ss a black student athI&e, X was the only black girl athlw on the campus with a scholarship and I was in cotnpliekly the "rang' S I W ) ~ . Evevbody e x p t d me to be tmck or basketball, not swhming. It just gets to be a hassle when you're having to justify your existence evev other day. (Female black e n g i n e ~ n gswiteher)
One of my b e h e r s would treat this one bask&al player differently. Like maybe he was just 'the big guy,bnd he'd m&e joka-f~endly jokes 'like, We'll protwt us if sommne mmes in,' and not talk: to h h in a real aedernic way, So I &ink: athX&s Qefmikly rweive dbchination. (Male vvhite engheering swikher)
As drady a r p d , the gratest h g e r wGch stereotypes p s e ta the membrs of any group is that they will be internalid: l know a black woman who switched to art, she was going to be a physics major, Her physics professor came and told her, m y are p u in my classroom. What can you possibly want to know about physics?Xnd it was hokble for her.. .and, eaming from a professor, you know, that is devastating for a student. And black students will internalize it and say, 'Well, this is me. It must be me,"Female black engineering switcher)
W e n p p i e apply skrmtypieaf charw&hmtions to t h e m d v a , they bwome
wabXe to aet in ways that will chmge or counter the skrmtype, a d it is fudher reinforcd: Just bwause you" Chin- yau%esuppged to just h o w m&&.If you clan", &en you can%show your face around, If youkre bkck, the sts;mtyge;is you shouldn't know math, If you do, then you" just not cool, Ml you should know is g p r & s and that" s h m you belong, Itvsharder for you to o p n up and try other things because youkve been told that you wig fa3 at them. That fear k-S you away from tying it. (Female: bhck science nan-switcher)
To overcame the negative fmEings toward self and group they b w e internalid, p p l e are motivated to prove to athers and ta themelves that they are not "inlFeniorm: I feel fike X have to work ~ c as ehard in order to get the same respwt as ;x non-mino~tystudent, (Female black s~zieneczswitcher) They say that E will always get a job, and that I don%have to wamy because I'm m a h a ~ t y and bmuse f'm m woman. But either way, I h o w I'm going to catch Q&, Even if f get hirect, I'm going to have to be twice as good just ta prove I am average. (Female Hispanic enginm~ngswitcher) Paradoxically, the sludents' wetarliest encounters with padictular stermtyps were ofien in their own ea ties where the widewrad inkmaiimtion of part;icular s k r w t y w had endow& them with a fat-l, uen-for-grmted qmlity: There is this fmlhg you have no Fight to be h the univemity--of not being good enough-which resulb in feelhgs of Fnadquaey and a s d f - h p s e b ceiling. It all comes fmm cultumf laming which is cansbntly reinfared by questioning from home. (Male native Amefjesn scienee non-switcher) It's like, X ean say, Well, bwause I m Hispanic f w s n %able to do this stuff," I won%say that, but I've lived that sin- I was a young kid ...Most Wispani~ kids aren? even expected to go to college. The onm who do, o&en lack the eonfidenee to do thhgs that they can actually do. (Male Hispanic enginwhg switeher)
Mmy shdents hah expefiexxcd stermtyping by tachers and eouaselors, including those sf their o w race or ethnicity, long before they entered colle;t2e. h the fonowimtg focus group exceqts, seimee seniors of eolor describe how they had devefoped a poor self-imge early in their dueatian: B l a ~ kwoman: AU through junior hi& they put me in c=asier classes. High a m g school, they starld dohg it again. Not untiI I s t a f i d haring my p r s E about caXlege and the quirements that you need to ee-algebm, p m e try--all that stuff, did X re~iIhe,Wait a minuk, I ean't get inb college without these chssm." Itad to my counselor and had to beg her to put me into honors and regular classes. If I kadn" done that, f probably woutdn" bbe here,
360
Isues of Erne and Ethnic* HispaniG m n : It has a lot to do with counsekg in high sehoot. W e n they see you" rct: a h o ~ v they , say, "h, you shouldn't take these class=. I don't they put you in s o m d h g lower. thi& you" gohg to do good in it,"d h i a n - h e ~ a nm n : 'Take WO& s h a p , T a h , &at%what they did wi& my bmt;her. M e n we =me hem, he w m t d to take seimcc:ehsses. 'No, no. Your Engljsh is not good,"BuE we didn" ts&n to them, and he went to science elasses :sand did fixre, Tbey shouldn" put you d o m . Black man: I m d e It through high sehooE with good s e o bmause ~ of a b c h e r that took h b m t h me. She used to say, Take these GOUPSW.Don't lis&n to the eounselom, Don't %bn to your fhenhs." I dthere were just two af us who made it through high school. So that" also som&h_ng we should deal with-haviflg our e x p a t i o n s i n c r ~ s e d , Black woman: I went to a minodty community college,..I interacted very closely with at1 my professors in biology, chemistry, physks and I h m a e f ~ e n d swi& them, But every one of them, including mino~typrofessors, would give you the message that they didn" e x p t you to do mare than this. Alwws! Alwqs? It was the same problem. Hispanic woman: Now that I have been here four years I feel at the same levd as peers and I know that I belong here, I t h w we%@quatified; we do have the sEUs, It% the psychological factor that f think we should work with.
Sbdenb were shock4 md mgry fa find that mme of the =me sCt;feoQp they had fought not to inbma2ize during childhood and adatescence were reflected in thpj stmcture of rainority progmm on their c a q u w . The foIl are absematians on this 1 of minofity progmm at three diffwent universities: One thing &at I dk&e about the mino~typmgmm is that it tends to Eook down at you: even the counselors don't e x p t much of you. I r a l i m that they"@ tqing to keep you fiom gdting into academic problems, but they look at all mino~tystudents the same way, I went once tcj see a counselor and she said, Tau can%t e theso classes because p u ' r e not rady. It's too much for you,"eyke Just reiflforcing what you" alrady thhking: 'Maybe 1% not strong enough tu do bat. '. .,Et% a p d l e m if the pmpb who are supgssd to be helping you, hold you back, (Female bhck science non-switeher) A tat of the minoity counseEom who are our own p p l e don't e x p t much.
mm it's
just a self-fulfdling prophmy if p p l e tell us that we're slightly fess-quafifid and our o w p p l e believe it and say it back to us, W o do we go to, to ehirnge this? (Female Hispanic seienee non-switcher)
SocialIy, them" Asian groups. I only went once, I dicin? t&e it: l don't L& a gmup b tell me to be pmud about who I am, especially if that gmup sublhinalIy reinforms certdtin tendencies in my group. There arc: a lot of premeds and a lot of engineering.. .that;%fine. But do I have to hang out with
ITSSILL"S of Race and Elhnicity
361
&ern?I'd mtber go where p p f e are inkrated in the same tlrings I am. (Male Asian-herican science s ~ k h e r ) They have this t u t a h g thing in enghmkg. Evqbody who is bfack has to go. It% a workshop far cafculus and she gives us extm practice pmblema. I fwl like they put us t o g d e r go that we h o w evevane and f i d gornwne we erin commvnimte with. But it's swamthg us and m&g us different fmrn everyone else-saying that we n d extm help be~ausewe" black. (Female black enginmhg non-sGtcher)
Daub& abut ~ n e ability ' ~ to do the work, caupXed with. a genemlid lack by white male sudeats, but were of conl'idenm, were less and students of color. Feelkg CO irxcompete~tfrom the outmt made it w i e r for $&dents to by grades wGch were: lower thm e x p t e d . Sbdents of ealor who expriexnd a c a d e ~ difficulty c o h n did nat mk quwtians ar seek help: they had come to blieve that their sihuatioa was h a p I w : Youkrc,:always self-conscious about the W? that they Ye IoaEng at you. And are they gonna t h i d about me askbg this you're tying to figure: out, "at question2Wat; b m u s e I dm't undemtand it, but bwause I'm black and l*m not s u p p s d to undershnd. (Male black e n g k w ~ gswitcher) There are: so many students tving to get a ~ n t i a ntrykg , to get help, And if youke not doing well and the profmsors have some kind of rady-made idea about your eapabifities, it's very hard for you ta approach professors, (Female black science switcher) Well, f always want4 to be in enginwhg, but it was very intimidating, They didn" ~ a r nreally enwuraging. I just chicken4 out. I didn" tthnk X could hack it. Actually, the work vvasn't too hard. I think I just psyched myself out of' that computer ehss. I just figurd it was too hard. You have to believe in yoursdf to get through the xnakfial.. And when they cut you d o m , you just don't think it's pssibIe at all. (Female Hispanic enginwhg switcher) The commition m&es it difficult when 11 a p p m that eveqone is prepared for this and youye not, Eveq t h e I w a k d into a classroom or lab X was intirnidaw just because X felt like I wasn't prepard for the situation. And heaven forbid I should ask a stupid que~tion,(Male black engineering switcher) it's knd of lifce a whirlpool effat. You start out, on the top and then it just p u b you in and kkes you finally to the point where you're bmoming dqressect because you gat a G or a D,Youke saying, "at the hell? No mamr what 1 do now, it% too late to campensak.' (Male black science switcher)
Even shudents of wlor who were: about to g r a d ~ t ein their original S.M.E. major continud to express fwlings af inadeqmey. As the wholieheartd internaliatianof a stermtype is more likely under conditions of social isolation,
362
Issues of Race and Ethnicily
those who had persisted had, in every case, found a student support group which encouraged t h m to share their fwlings and to resist internalizing sterwtyptss: g that I was less qualifid than some other p p k e here. Even &ough I did very weg on my S.A.T.s and my high school G.P.A. was good, I always had that doubt whether they wen: puttkg me here,..as sort af a challenge to see if I wuld mmake it. X work& very hard and f did very well, but that's always in the b a ~ kof your mind. You have to have friends here or it will just oveqower you. p e m l e blaek seienee non-switcher) if you come into a clam where you fml like-you're not up to par or you don't belong, you begin with that doubt. You set your shncfards to a lower feveI than if you come in with czonfidenw...How did I get that confidence"rt came from my own group. Defmitely! I mean, you don't bPing it here with you. (Male W ispanic science non-switcher)
In sum, the vatam and support of their racial or e t h i c group is the Roor u p n which students of w l a r sland. Unfamnately, an internalid stereotype is the ceiling above whieh they
of Ethnic I s o k r ~ ~and n E"ercepdns o f Prejdice From our matysis of ~ n a r i t ymd mjsnlty studen&hiews af the sbte of e t h c relations on their campusm, we constructed a pichxre of the rote played by perception of prejudice in the switching dwisions of students of cofor. Studgab whom racial or e t h i c group f o m d an insipifieaxzt part of the rity ppulation on earnpus exp%rien& both physical m d social isolation. roup isalation has two ~ ~ o subornu s for studenb of color in S,M,E, mjors: it d e s m kdirwt but v e v p w e r h l contribution to switching dmisiaaxs and i t heightens their perception, of prejudice. We consistently found that racially or ethically isolatd sbdents felt sumsunded by white students who were prejudicsd toward them, Unplawnt incidexrb cfmrly did occur-whether in the clmsroom ar elwwhere on. campus, However, they tmk on even g a t e r significance when there was no one with whom to share the pain and fiumifiation, This is not to a r a e m does not exist where it is not perceived; or that it exists an every where it is prceived. On campuses where there were very fw native Americms, blacks iund Hispanics in 8.M.E. m ~ o r s , these students experie-ncd doubt that they belong&, wonder4 if others judged them as ineomptent, field back from -king hdg or =king questions and were ~ s e r a b l ylonely without a peer group with wham to share their experienws: agree
There are not too many Af&~an-Americanstudents in any of the claslie,s. We b v e to seek each other out., .Common issues b ~ n us g together. Students who feel isofat4 feel like they don" belong, and that somehow their actions and their behaviors may not be up to par. They internalize fwlings that may be imelevant, but they end up becomi~g relevant! (Male black e n g i n w ~ n g switeher)
363
Issum of Race and E t h ~ k i p
X don't tee divemity, In my class-, I'm the only black prson and you don't feel as at =ss to voice: your own opinions h class, You mi&t just want to save it rather rhan s+ up. (Female black enginekng switcher) Som&hes I ask mysdf, ' m a t am I dokg here?" could mend a soulhwestem univeaity where there's s larger Indian population. I would say, far me,
h studen& k in the classroom. Outside f just have the only htemction ~ t white mino~tyeanneetbns, It% very h p m n t for me ta belong to the native h e h e a n community, If you don%have a supwR group or cannot find one, then you are lost hem. (Male native h e ~ c a scienee n non-switcher)
Gross n u m b s fo the contrary, we d i m v e r d A s i a n - h e r i m sbdents in S,M.E. majors af so experieaeed e t h i c imlatian on all but two of the campuses we studied, and on the other five campurns they were hard pressd to Fom an ethnic p m group, This probfem appears to be gratest for Asian-American women:
I felt rally all alone (pause)...rally all alone in physics. The class was huge and it s m m d that a lot of p p l e , like, wufd get tag&her to do problem sets, and f felt like everyone was: getting them a lot quicker. (Female AsianAmerican engineering switcher) E t h i c imfation c r a t e s the was@of being a token represenktivc;:far one" ethnic group. The premure to do well is e d m c d , and the fear af a d ~ t t i n gto h d q m c y by =king for heIp is also grmtm: In enginwring, it's not necessarily conscious ta sldrnislislrators or professors, but it's thttre. It m&es you fee1 We they look down on you. And if yau are the only one, that m&es it dgffieult to ask a T.A. or professor for help and just confm that you" stupid like they thought. (Female Hispanic enghmring switcher) The figher the degrm aE e t b c imlation, the more kwnly the isolatd individual permivm prejudice. Being the sale arget for aft the slings and snows of e t h i c one more wlnerable to their sting, By extension, the mare ethical1y i my S.M.E. sbdent fwls, the g r a t e r the l k e l i h d af th&r Iaving the maljor. Fmling wlf+onscious of bing the sole reprwnhtive of one's group wm e ixltenw for shrdenh from ethically or ra~ialily nose who had been integratd into the white ucation, felt less dis~onnfortin clases where; there were few memkrs of their o w group:
.
It depnds an what kind of community they were brought up b. If t h q w r e from an aE-Asian community, and then come here, where the ma,jority is white, they would f a 1 the tension more. But if they were brought up in an allwhite community, then I don" think they have too much difficulty as far as fining in, m&ng f~eads,(Female Asian-American scienw non-switcher)
-
I wm always aromd Oumims, I was never rally around Asims. I've e x w e n d =me =ism bere, but X m-, it" nottzigg that's ever b t h e r d me. male himseimw non-switcher) ta; sadants md fwutv som&imm isolaM will h d a p p r t by f o e n g saeial r@Iatiornsbigswi&
sludents from
other groups. Shdents of color do not. share this aassuqtian: I don't SW a s l nn-g of the gmups. You notice when you look around the clilssmom that youke the only Hispanio and there's only one black pmon. You sham a lat of the same fwhgs, but at the: same t h e , you wouldn" want to go up to &em and say, % ' Sus against t h e m e w a l eHispanic enginwhg switeher) How could you eome to a flaw this big and still fwl isolatd? You woufd t h with ~ alJ,the people you'd have p p l e amund you at ail times, But p p l e puil t a g h e r within their o w group. I find that w p i a l l y with the Asian studenfs. I've tried to hook up with a few of them because they're smart in math, but it's hard. They help their o w and stick togdher pretty much. (Make black enginmhg switcher) Everyone" shnacentric, so it% not suvfishg. You always see these clustern oFIndhn or Chinese studenb, and, of coum, you want to be h your own WIe cluster of blacks. But you didn" have that opprtunity here because: there were so f w of us. (Male black enginwhg switeher;)
The drong E& for same-group affiliationwm sctmetimm met by a shift inta the ority groups are reprsexlLeb in ties or social science classs where larger numbers, o p diwwsion of ismm of mm md ethicity is eneouragd md students m mjor h m area of ethic sprxializatian: Xf youke in a chss whem you" unique, then you have to fix1 like you don't fit h. And if youke with a whole buneh of p p l e just like you, then youke more Likely to sby, It just made sense to me to go to Asian studies. (Male A s i a - h e ~ a nenginaring swikher;)
If you are isoXad, especially Karans, you a n bwome rally academically involved bmause ycluke not hvolvd much socially. Some ppfre who excel in studying do rally well and go into graduate school. But tba;yke always alone and h i t & to academics. And gome p p l e who are isolated just drop out of school, l dmidd to go to philosophy before that hapwned to me. (Male Asian-hehean science sktcher)
I was one of only a fevv blacks, but in sociology vve're almost half the majors. You've got p m like yourself and a couple. of faculty too, And it's open, you h o w , race isn? trwtd Xle a dirty secret like over in the enginearing school. (Male bbck enginm~ngswitcher) Students are hesitirnt to came into engkineering or slily hem bwause of the hostile, racist mvironment-just not fwiing, accept& in classes, or having
Issues of Race a d Ethnk*
363
anybody to have a cup of wffw with, or saying anflhhg ta YOU, ever. w a l e Hirr-panice n g i n s k g s ~ t c h e r ) I like it when they offer cbseg oon A f ~ e a nand Brazilian likraturr: and bfwk histafy chsses and stuff like that. I soft of undemhnd when p g l e say affmative action is not fair. But on the other hand, I just in the biology class all by myself, (Femab black; science switcher)
our eoa&nti;iatl &at etbie isolation lysis of dwthtiorx mjom t negative contribution to S.M.E. witching by students of wlor, h ~ e i kr a I ~haim,swdents o h n mov& ta mjors where, by the very nahre of the disjpfine, they would h less isolatd. included area studies (=eh as Asim, Afrim-Amecim md b t i n Amefi~mSmdies), a vahety of specialimtiansin ethic fristQq and foreign Xirxl~ges.T"h@ miaI sciences also drew switchers into mjors in mee relations, culh3ra1 mtlirapology,u r h swdies md social work. As to the exptience of overt mpX u~demtmdthe distinctionbwwn prejudi md r a t i d that &M o p r a t d hdependently: There is some dise~minatioafrom the faculty, which is subtle. I'm not rsaIfy sure if it's reaIly racism or just ner\tousness,.,But I thinik that there are also some intentional racist faculty here. (Female black science switcher) You sit next to them and they'll aetually move away, It% rampant in engineering, You know, it is not samethhg subtle. (Male Hispanic enginmfing switcher)
I would say theyke p r a y much racist throughout the whole campus, but I wouXd say more so in engineering bmause that is a very lucrative field. An& the more non-white students that they can w d - o u t the b-er it is for them, X t h it;% ~ s ssytematic way of k q i n g certain jobs open far eehain p p l e . (Male bhck engkering swkher) W e n X ask& my fast profwsor what he was baking far in an applicant for a rammher position, be said, "ornebody Iike myself. V wwas vefy quiet md I thought, 'I guess I" in tmuble kause X don't look very much like you.' E didn? tsay that to him. E just thought it. (Male black scienee non-switcher) You b o w , the racist attitudes, the disckinatory aaitudes have not gone. mey've just gone underground, That is the worst. A prson wE iX be smiling right in your facl: and you don't kknow what they're thiding. (Male black enginm~ngswitcher) It%seal! W e n X first Game here, I was doing what E tSlought was good work. I had just t k w a course with the profasor who gave me a IS, and he was bching a seminar far undergmduates, afferd with consent of the professor only. But at that point I didn't h o w what that meant, so 1 enro1lt;c-t.The first day I show& up and he said, '1 didn't t k to you, You need to come and talk to me at my office hours. W e n I went to s p k to him, he said, 'This elitss
36;6
&sues of Race a d Ethnicity
is by consent of the instruetar only. ' lsaid, 3 f now, but 1" endlied in the clags.' Then he began to drill me, M y was I them? We hadn" consent& for me ta take the class, and it just wasn? the ckss far me, It was just blabnt racism in my opinion. Blabnt, blatant racism, (Female btaek science switchec)
te shdenb, however, did not understand the distinction between prejudice discrimination md suggwM that if no discri a t o aeh ~ c0 then there W= no prejudice. C ts =eh m, "mey>e always looking for racism," "They have a chip on their shoulder," aod "They resd discrimination in the simplest thing," reflected their belief that students of color are overly sensitive, and that the problem, and its resolution, lies largely with students of color themelves, The pressure to internaliztr;this assessment of the sit-uationwas strong and was difficult to resist: Racism. is iztcremitrg in some a r a s on campus. Apin! My husband is white, and we went through several long conversations about my fears and why they raBy were very ralistic. X still get very upset when people suggest it i s in my hagination ar something that can just be overmme. (Female black engineecing switcher) W e n it comes to mul;ti-eulturalisnrand P.C.-ism, I know a lot of people: are r a m t u r n d off by the idea, and don%want to undershnd what start& these things. But when you know someone who% pmonafly been affmted, that's always the changing point, (Female Hispanic engineehng switcher)
The blief that frceulty or mjofity students are prejudiced was found to be as p w e r k l in its effmt on the aadeMlic performmce af students of cofar m were mare overt acts of discri~natian: In my biochemistfy classes 1 was the only minority, f would look around to sc=e if I could find somebody to study with and l&e..,Usuttly the p p l e form groups within their ehnicity, You feel uncomfoable so you don't push yourself to try, (Female black science swileher)
In most of the classes I've taken, if I've tried to hook up with somebody far a study partner, they kind o f pull away from you. (Male black. enginefing switcher) ltf the class rquires you to have a lab pafiner, you just keep pulling straws until youke the hst one, That doesn" help your level of confidence, (Male Hisprmic scienw switcher)
Mi~on"tyGroup E~rollnzertctlnevels a& f"ercephns of Racism, MI white sbdents were wkd haw they fdt shdents of coiar were t r m t d an their campus, At the five sites where the white pclpufation e x c d e d 80 perwnt, the rmpnm was that, with lslo few sadents of eolor on their campus, t h q did net &idthat mti-etbic or racist mntiments existd. 'They ea express4 sympathy for the isalsrion and greater delfree of difficulty wGch they believed strudents of eolor exprim& in. S,M.E, clmms, Although the tone of
some of the follwiag obmrvwtiom from white shidents on these campuses m y &@mwmewbt patronizing md infomd by st~rmtypicafidm,they also reflect a generatid g d w i l l : We pmbabfly have a higher mtio s f &nic professors than we do students, X mean this place; is so white and blond it% ffrightening. I think they could use some more c=thnicdiversity. Look amund. I don%t~ we have a black person h e n g h w h g in the & n t hdqaement. There axn%even v e q many b r o w ones: there's no red onee, Them are plenty who are of O~enl;atdmcent, you b o w , who were born fiere. (Male wbite e n g h m h g non-switcher)
X thi& it% sea1 important that more minacities should be in engineering. It's probably 90 per~entwhite male and maybe five, six, sevm prcent Asian, I guess, h d that" rally t e ~ b l eI, think a good cultural mix is real imporlant. m i t e male engineering non-switcher} Qn the whole, the rnhority pagubtion is at a much lower eeonornie level than Caucasians. "l'hey don" have the oppofiuniw far an education. f don't %see: anflbing wrong with trying to help them, bwause as a group you n d to have pmpltc: that are ganna be role modeb, that will s u c c d , for the children to look up to and say, "oak, X rally can do this,"Female white science nonswitcher) When I see a black studat in class it's like, 'Wow, this is so unusual. This is.. .this is good. ' I mmn, I th* more should come, but X thhk that sk* fuftber b a ~ kin their upbringing. T%e high schools they end up going to don't gut that much emphasis on it and they don't say, 'Yes, you can do this.' They could s u c e d with a little more tender loving care, (&male white enginmring switcher) f don't feel t b t tbey%e llet p p I e in who artan" qualifid bwause af their ethnicity, I feet everyone I%e m& here is very smart, and sorn&hes more motivatd bwause of their ahnic background-because it's a way out. mey grew up not having a lot of m o n q and they felt t&e their education w s gonna get them out, which gave hem more drive-which is a good thing, (Female whie scimee switcher)
Lack of c a n w t beween d o ~ n a n md t minority grows has a& been view& as s s i b t i o n in w ~ c b sterwtyps and prejudim are more likely to flourish: where w ~ t r pwpfe ; W few people of color, negative stereotypes go uncfialtengedt. We, therefore, expected the @counts of white students on tfy white campurns t s canfim the perceptions of sadents of cslor that there were high levels of prejudiw. By the same fsgie, an the tvvo campuses where Asim-Americm r e p r ~ n t a t i s nin S.M.E. m j o r s was high, we &SO e x p t e d to find white shdents expressing more positive fmlings towards them thm an campues where there were few Asim-Ame~canshdents in S.M.E. mjars. However, bath axgectations were contradicted by csur findings. 'This b a m e char as we a n a l y d the perspectives of white students t o w r d s
311;8
lssues r?fRaee and Ethnicig
particular groups who were either the largest racial ar e t h i c group on campus, of native h e ~ c m s were , g r w n t in p r o p ~ i o n that s were larger Table 6.3 shows the pecentitge of emallmeat (in all mjors) by ethicity at each of our s v e a hbmiew sit=. (The prwntilges for foreim smdents are given, bat thew sadents wer@not hcludetd, in our sample.) For camparison, Figure Q. f pravidm the natianal em011 eragw for sbdenh of those groups s h a m in Table 6.3. Wilh_in.S.M m, the repremntation of each m i d or & M c group is genemlly lower than for the social sciences md ties. By c o q a h g the d o ~ n a n pt m p t i v e s on the inter-raciallethie c l i m b which. were exprmsed Ezy S.M.E. students with those express& by students of color at each of the sitm, it b w m e elwr the two groups did not share the mm@ view of raciallethic relations on their mmpus. 'The higher the reprewnbtion of a racial or ethnic group hS.M.E. mjors, the more resentment of that s p i f i c group wm express4 by white students. Gnversdy, where represenhti~nof a racial or e t h i e group w~ gm11 (or, in the case of native h e ~ e m sat, a sim consonat with white shdentSf expbtions), w%te studenb e x p r e ~ s dless prejudice and mare favomble attitudes toward the membrs of that e t m e group. n u s , thaw campurn where the skdents of eolor blieved white: S.M.E. students were prejudid agakst them were acmily c8mpuses wbm white: p r s expressed gratest sympathy toward studenh of colur. The strcmgmt pmjudice was a c h l l y e x p r m d on ampuses where S.M. E, students of color said they felt mast accept&, For example, at the small, private wesbm ~Xlege,native h e r i m s were r e p r ~ n t dat Wice the national average, a d at the time aF the hbwiews, 20 frmhmen had rsently b n rmmitd from the mme resewation. AIthaugh native Amerim students were still less than WO prcent of the sbdent body, this ww the largest reprwntation of native h e i c a n s on any e a q w we visitd. Native Amerims schowledged awareness of racism target4 @wards other racist and e t h i c groups on this earnpus, but felt they were well-acmptd: I t h M it's bwer here than some places, X m a n , f think it's pre;tty bad for native Ame~cansdown South, Samelimes it smms like there" very little racism, and then, aXI of the sudden, it" big again, f 'm msue it's always going different, to be them, But I th* native h e d e a n s am we11 accqtd her-as but equal, (&male native h e r i e a n science switcher)
T%is msessment W= not, however, who& in our canversirtions about attimdes bwar& native h e f i e a s on this ampus witfx cuaent and fomer white S.M. E. mjars: At this eaUege &em% a large Indian ppuIation and there is definitely resatmeat here. They go to sehoaf fm. They get paid to go to sehool, actually, Faur hundred dollars a month and they don't thave to do a thing, And that m&es me upset, that, for them there's a free ride, X nwer see them
TABLE 6.3 Percentage of Enrollment by RacJEthnicity at Seven Institutions (1991-1993). MWPUBl = M ' i e s t , ublic, ranking 1; WPUB2 = Weat, ublic, ra&q 2; WPUB3 = West, blic, ranltirrg 3; ECPUB4 = East CO* ranking *; WCPRIl = &est Coast, private, rankiq l; WP& = West, pnvate, ranki 2: W& = West, pnvate, ranking 3; WPRI) =
P friv?, ~ ~ ~ ~
ranking 3; with ranking according to a modifcd version of the Carnegic CIassifiulion ."fInstitutioru (cf., Qlmniele of Higher Education, July 8, 1 87)
Ins;r8rutlan
Native
A S b
Americon
Block
Toral
R
FIGURE 6.1 Average Percent Entollment at 3,100 U.S. b t h t i o n s of Higher Education by Race and Ethnicity.
N
.
Anredcan
3,100 Source:
U.S.
0.8
Department or ~ u c a u o n ,
ASEon-
B M
4.4
9.3
American
H-& 6 .O
W
Fdgnborn
76.5
2.9
14,359,000 cu
3
370
Issues of Rrzce and Ethnieie study, Hispanics and other minorities smm to work as hard as anyone else. (Make white science sdteher) If sorneboCLy vvanw ta g& gctvemment;xl &ads, they would e h h , even if theyke only onmigh& of some tribal group, just bwause they are rewarded for being an Amefimn Indkn. In same, it's not n o t i ~ b l at e all that theyke Indian. The system is behg taken advantage of, m i t e female science switcher)
A s i ~ l a situation r wm famd at the East Gomt sbb dvemity with the fargmt black shrdent ppulation of army of the wven sites. At 10 pereat of the s u e n t M y , blwk students ex the national avemge, h a simtion where bfack students were strongly t d and had w y acade&c md social s to other black sadents, they d w G M the inkreracial climte an their campus as mnrfo*bIe and largely detekned by their a m attihrdes and bahaviar: I have never expeAeneeb any pre;judice. I %ve never bmn called names. X've never b e n dischinated against here. And t think a lot of that also has to do with my attitude, You know, I don%exude a defensive mode. (Female black science switcher) We all have e x v ~ e n c dsome rackm somewhem, but I m a n , it's nothing that's ever bother& me. But here X haven't had to deal urith it and X feel vefy eomfoable h venginmkg. (Male bkck wginw~ngnon-sdwher)
Amongst our white S,M,E, discwmts on this campw, we found clear evidence and prejudice toward black students, of ts wem apparently unaware:
of stermtypicd attiades, resntment
The university must mainkin a 15 perwnt black population or somehing. khda gets me off. I don't SW how you could possibly adrnit this guy who's 2,1 C.P.A. out of high school, but he's fdtmg that last w r ~ e n of t the quota far blacks on our campus. So they say, 'Let him in. S m how he does."ite male o=n@eehg non-sdt~her) If some rich blwk decided to take a scholarship he wuld get it. I've n e v a applied for a scholarship, but that" where my resentment mrnes in-f nwn, if sommne else g&s a scholarship that I could apply for. (Male white enginmring swikher)
f just don't know if theykre as qualifie8, and it% unfair I'or people who are qualified and have urorked hard and done better than same of these blacks. 1 think it should be q u a l far everybody ...I don% tthink there should be a program, that says, 'We have to admit this many minority students." That's just not fair. We don't t t a about that too much bwause there are sa many black students here. (Female whik science switcher) Blacks could be lacking and be put into the system on the assumption that theyql a&pt or figure a w y to t a r n , Maybe they =re screw-of& in high
lsgues of Race a d Ezhnicie
371
school; maybe &ey% turn serious here in college. I thhk the university does km a big favor by letting them h. Big favor! (Male whik engineering nonswitcher)
'This pattern mpeatsd i w t f at tbc: fawr weskrn campms where Hispanic group (dthough s d y the private W s t sbdents wem the the national avemge a Coast university did each of t h four ~ m expfieneing fwtiflg mja-m: I don't t h that ~ students or faculty have prwonceived notions about the quafity of work X do or the kind of prson I am based on my hst name, (Mate Hispanic enghmfing nnon-swikher) X -feel very accepted here for who 1 am, My work, my intelligence, eveqhing about me is &ken on an hdividual basis by non-latinos, I'm quite comforlable in enginwing, (RrnaIe Hispanic enginering non-switcliler)
Again, thwe fwfkgs did not q w r e with thaw of white S,M.E, p r s , whose raentment towards Hispanics wm b a d on the. bdief that they were given unfair advmtages, a p i a l t y waiver of entrmce rquiremenb, and that ive action programs were abused by shdents who qulified by race or ,but not by academic pedb or f a ~ l ineome y level: I h o w from my hi& school this year there are three Hispanic students that got In, and I'm nnot saying that those pmple are not bright, "cause I'm sure they were some of the top studenb. But X do h o w that, sometimes, affimative action do= make a difference, and you don" want them ta be awqting people just bmause they fee1 they ought to, Yau want the quality of your school ta slay high. Three is an awfully big number for a school of 1 ,SW, I could see three from a betkr quality school, but not from one high school. And the faet that they were a11 Hispanic. f don't want to sound like I'm discriminating, but,, ., (Female white science switcher) 121 tell you something that's rally bother& me. At N,I.W, they have a program design& for minoAty students and my ffiend who is Hispanic, they gave her this thing, I don" t o w how much that has to do with her Hispanie background, but since she's been here she's been offered a job for Hispanic or black women. 1 don%think her background is that different from mine. Her parents both have master", and she's lived in the United States for the majority of her life. There are going to be cases where v p X e who don't particularly need an advanbge are going to get it, (Female white science nonswitcher)
Encouraging minoritie~to come here is fine. There's so rason to withhold a good education &on someone on the basis of their ethnic group. However, you should not be Fmancing it for them. There are just as many whites here who are hard up as there are Mispanies. (Male whiics: seience non-switeher)
3 72
&sues oJ"Race and Efhnicity
students m 4.4 percent of the national u n d m g d m t e ch is lower than &at of both blacks md H i s p i c s . kEthou& Asim-Amefims are more s r e p r w n w in science and m g h w k g mjars, in other =jam, their W a p m m to be larger than it , other sad=& tend not to hdents fram other wuntries, At two W shdenb were the largest sbgle non-wGte g r q . a sigzliticant proprtion of the ghdent M y at the midwestem university--which had the highest percentage (88 96) of white swdents of a y of aur ir p r w n w ww more notieed bwauw other sbdenk of color were . At the privab Mrst Coast university, the percentage of white students was below, and the Asian-Americsn campus ppulation nargy t h w ti grmbr thm, the xrational averages far w h group. This university dso had the highest percenkge of sbdents of color of my of the sites visited; native h e r i m and Hispail: enrollment also e x c d d the national average with white enroIXment slightly owm 50 prcent. 'The unuswlly hi& degrm of divenity at this adedcally-selextive institution has beea createci rts a m t b r of institutionalpalicy, and the value of diversity is strangly promatd. For example, all & @ b e n are required to take a wurw in "ethnic semitivity." Asiaa-Amedcan shdenb on b t h of them e a m p u ~ shdicatd that they felt w d o & b l e a d w e p M by their white p m : Caucasians that I've bked with or been close with have bean very niw. I've never mEly exphenceb any mism stuff, (Mak Asian-American enginmring non-sdteher)
I &n% remember any situaGon where I had a problem. Not raUy. (Pernab A s i a - h e r i e a n engixlwhg switcher) Diffi~ulties"! don't find any--not for myself, ar for other Asim students 1 here. (Msfe Asian-Amt=~canenginmhg nonswikher)
b o w who have bmn =is&
We did not, however, find that ofFicial promotion of the idea. of a diverse ty on the West Coast campus had resulted in a greater acceptance of the strong Asian-American presence in S.M.E. majors by white s h d a t s thm that found at the midwestem mmpus where an official prodiversity policy existed, but was less overtly stressed. On both campuses, white cll~-mM d the =me r ~ ~ t m ntowards t s Asim-Amel;jems that we heard expressed towards other strongly-represented groups elsewhere. These included receiving 'unfair advan&gm" in employment oppomnities and scholarships, and exploiting programs intended for poorer students: ppaying far my own tuition. i've been saving sin= I w u 13, Basically, I uartt=.rsof my Eunding. It" s u y fmstrathg to me to see fhends who am Ashn who are living so well-off, X fe;el like that aey'rre really
I"
&sues of Race and B h ~ k i ~
373
exploiting the s y s m , It3 s u y fmstmthg b a u s e them sm aU1 these pmgmms far mhodty studen@,but a nu&r of mhosty studenb Isee gMhg the fundkg and g m h g &me progmms or schohmhips am e m ~ t l ythe ones who don%t l I y need it, (Pernab whib enginwhg non-sekher)
I appE& ts work md had all the qualifications for it, but they wem mhoritim &at scmatr?r, So I didn't get k m it,,,Theykre going to pick O ~ e n k l s ,and,. .urn,. .other foreignem. That makes me sound a Iiale grejud i d , but I've a h y s been at the wrong place 3 the wrong t h e to get jobs. m a l e white e n @ m h g non-swieeher) Smms ta me &mare so many more schalamhips avaihbfe for mino~ties, espialEy if youke ganna be an enginsr. I b o w a Japanese woman and she's told me they" set! She" got a free ride pmcticaUiy, (Mak whik enginming non-sdtefxer)
mese
tioxls are: doubly ironic: ' ~ n o G t yprogmm2end to aclude Asim-
h e f i w sweats h a u s e they are not consider& to be; aunda-~prwn@''
in the scimcm, md middlie-elass Asian-Amehcms axprws resntment a b u t "unfair" camptition for hading toward other non-whik S,M.E. students: We have an Offim of Minority Student Affairs, but I've always felt that they rid more ta Afdcan-Amehcans than to any other minority, whi~hin a way is a bias. Pmple like myself, we don" even have: a =&gory, I don't t t h M there is a campus organktion that caters to our R&S fmancially, -pially if you" fmm a middle-class background We me. (Femafe Asian-Ame~earr seknce non-switcher-)
We also found that h i m W swdents activefy svoided -king any spec;ial &antage relgW to ethnicity and o b n e x p r m d the mm@ di~pprovhgattitude as their vvhite p m towsrd students who m m &ought to abuw program basd ive action phciples: 1 try and s t m s my academics and my achievements, I think fiat% more imprc;tnt than saying, ' b o k , l" a aminoAty, You awe me. V rally have a pmblern with that, h far as schotamhips for minorities, if somebody cannot afford to go to 9ehool and wan8 that opprtunity, that's fine. But if somebody is tqing to take advankge, I have a problem with that. (Female AsianAnne~eanseienee swikher)
I don't advomb rambased scholarships. The Afhwn-Amehcan community says, 'lft's n d e d b w u s e we have histOl[iafly been c h m w af our oppaunities," don? thhk your m m or your color should give you an ecfge owr someone dse. If they do give a sehotamhip far black p p l e , it should be p a r bhek ~ p l ore inbageat black p p t e , you know, not just anyone who just wants to go to school, (Male Asian-herican science non-swikher)
te sweats on both ampuses expressed an wciditionat set af negatives bliefs aad attihrdes toward hiart-Amerim swdents: that they were foreip7nets; that
324
Ifsues of Race and EthnkQ
classes W-
y" A s i a T.A.s; a d that the h i m presnce in S.M.E, ""ove~hdnaing":
Asbns are going into the science field, and so are a lot of other foks &at don't Eve in the UniM Sat=, You wallr in thege chrsses and the Asian T.A. is in the= and somebody gow, "Oh, god, b o k at this guy."O~ male science svvitchm)
I don" tee1 like I'm mcht by any mans, but &ere is a vefy large &nie population in the mgineedng pmgnim-spifl~aUly, Asian, I m a n if sommne is smafi, it daesn" mamr wh& their nice is, they" stiU m k e the curve the same way. But a Xol of the p p l o &at s b d off in enginwhng would be. Asian, and consequently you have a disproportionate number of them that want to be T.A.s. (Male white e n g i n m h g swjitchec) I felt esmially inadquate in camparison with the Asian studenh in this enginmring ckss. It S to be largely dominated by them. Not that they were disehinatory at aU. Just that I felt so ovemhelmd that there were sol many. (Female white enginaring switcher)
As the foregoing disussion indicah, the character of e t h i c relations on wch ampus ww shaped by va~atiorzsh the proportions of ~nority-to-mjority sbdents in the S.M.E. ppulation, Xndd, we found an inverm r d a t i o n s ~ p b W w n the level of hostility and rmentment e x p r w d by wEte smdents and the, degrw of racism pereeivd by sbdenh of color, W e n the population mtia of an e t m e group r m h e s a poht that e m susbin the perception of awep-ct: h r its o m membm, it tdggers white prejudice md attibdes opposing affi action progmm. The padoxieal effwt of i n c r m d e t h i c densiv is ex in the followhg hypthesis: as the xlumbr of studentii in m e t h i c group , expression of w&te student rewntment toward that group also , though its membrs perwive less prejudice, As we have illustrated, students of color in well-represent4 groups did not notice racism on tbeir campus; others n o t i d some fiostility, but discounted it a., being indistinguishable from racism in society at large, or distaPlced themelves h m its eonsequences. This appears to occur because the group effectively insulates its members from a reality which is harsher than they ralize, S.M.E. shdttnts of m1or who belong& to well-reprewnted groups were physically and Bocially insufatd from the while mjority on campus. They shard ea ammgements, sbdy groups and social activities, and had little or no cantaet with white studetnk outside of clwses. Envelop& by a close-knit group, t h y were proteetd From negative skrmtypes, rwived affwtive and instnrmental support, developed a positive view s f the earnpus ethos and were, thereby, enabled to prsist, dmpite a high levd of (unperceived) hostility from white peers. In considering the sourccs of white student resentment toward m m strongly-represent4 groups, we need to look more closely at the nature of the
exprmsed by white S.M.E. negative b l i e f s md attiadee; m re ducgtion are Ims likely to s&dent;s. It is o b n =mm& that express racial or e t h i c prejdice. This msuwtion u n d e w ~ t e sthe expgictation pie in Iower mia-economic g r o u p ate m m likely to bu prejudicd they p r w i v e a ~ ~ amnonric u s t b m t in campetition fbr unskilld jabs from appfimts of colar. The findings from this study do not refute this theory, h t extend it aicrosss GIW linm to inelude b t h incame and eduwtian. We would a r p e that it is not the level of educatim a l t a i d , but how X&ely the chance of a e ~ e v i a gmop1oHlic security i s thought to be &;at governs the extent ta which people in the dominant group see those in smaller ethnic or racial groups as a competitive threat. For shldents, the threat is future-oriented: competition for jobs at. a time of shrinking employment oppolfunities is perceivd to be in&nsifie;d by the adnnission of more students of eofor thought. to have lower levels of qwlifimtians on e n t q m d preference in hiring on graduation: When you tak ta pmpk about the jab mark& nowadays, espc=cLIEywith it sa bad, comments are said, 'Well, 1'11 probably get b a t out by a black wman a n y a y , so why should 1 even try far tfiat?Yt%s u y discoumgiflg, but there is that fmting, (Female white enginwhng non-switcher) I don" t e the idea of quobs and allowirrg people into something just bmause theyke a minofity. X t h that's ~ an insult to them bwause, if theyke goad, everyone should be given an equal chance, I mwn, X believe in capilafism and that eveqone should w r k for what they get. X don't beeeve anyone should ever be given a brmk for anMing. The worjd's not a perfect plaw. (Female white enginwhg switcher)
I don't t h anyone ~ should g& a job over someone eke because af the color of their %fin.And it" supselling baausc: you fml Ikc:you worked so hard to keep your head above water, and then sommne wha soft of floats along is gonna get the job ahead af me, (Focus group, white women switchers) 1 think they are lowering the entrance rquifements for minorities. Definitely! (Male white enginmkg non-switcher)
I feel filke the syskm" being exploitd. There are a couple of minority studenb. mey're fiving in these hcrdibfy e x ~ n s i v homes. e The only reason they were aeeqted ta this univemity w s not on their scholarly erdentials, but because they have an Asian last name. (Fiemale white biology non-switcher) The racism generat4 by them fears about the future h o m e s a strong f a t u r e
of a m p u s life in the p r w n t , By far the most strongly and most frquentty e x p r e s d wuree af white smdent rwntment correertzed their o m cunent (and apparently growing) meial aid m d ather college hnding. Students difficulties in sew af color w r e co s to sholarships or other thought to have un hnds which were seen a~ difficult for white (or Asim-American) students ta get, h g e r was gratest where funds presumd ta be mr-mark4 for taXentd
hues of Race and Ethniciry
376
students of color from lower-income firmilies were thought to have been given to students with poorer academic perfknmmce8 or to those who had abused the system-either by making a questionable claim to a particular race or ethnicity or because group membership (rather than actual need) was thought to have determined the award. White students who were uncomfortable about the racism they perceived among their peers saw this as a manifstation of prejudices common in the wider society, but also expressed doubts about the efficacy or equity of the affirmative action approach to educational access: I sec afhwtivc adion an the wrong approach to the right problem, in that it just creates too much hostility and doesn't addreas the more deep causes of racial division and inequality. I think king a racist has to come sociologically from somewhere. I think it's ingrained by someone talking to you, especially a parent. (Male white enginee~gnon-switcher) Once you're in a classroom it doesn't matter if you're a girl or a boy or a black or fiom a foreign nation. I mean, it doesn't make a difftrtncc and the prof-rs don't care either. Giving minorities an opportunity, if they just can't do it, they're going to fail out sooner or later. It doesn't matter if you help them get in the door to take the class; cvcntually they won't make it through. (Male white engineering non-switcher)
Neither courses in ethnic sensitivity, nor greater contact with minority groups appear to ameliorate the level of prejudice. Indeed, we found the opposite to occur. The larger the ethnic group, the more its members are perceived as an economic threat to the nuajority, and the greater the degree of racism and hostility which is expressed against them by all students, including those of other ethnicities. On every campus, it was the largest minority group which was resented the most, and in all cases, this occurred when the group was represented at a higher percentage than the national average. We stress that this was an unexpected finding, and that the nature of both our research design and our data do not allow us to advance a hypothesis about the specific population ratio that would trigger this effect. We see this as an important question for future study.
"Minority ]RogFamsW Over thnequarters (78%) of the students of color who switched reported they received inadequate support either from existing programs or because institutionalresources were lacking. Few studentsof color found a campus-wide program that effectively served the needs of S.M.E. majors or any type of minority assistance program within their S.M.E. departments. Their need for such assistance was, however, strongly evidenced: without exception, every student of color who stayed in their original S.M.E. majors reported that some type of program assistance had been critical to their survival. The types of support most often identified as useful are discussed below.
A
five af the sim, we famd a sbgle, earnpm whom g081 W to fe~mit,~ h ahd assist shar by m~or.SR;rdmts of color c a s i s m m pragntm: first, and did not take the culturn1 v a l m md exphenm of , they wem not field diRmnt w i a l or e=c gmaps h sE1l building and t i m specific; and, third, tbey emphasized t-all of w ~ c hfwus on neglected to encourage hterest io their discipline or enhance their intellectual experimce. Programs that define acadenrie suppsrt anly in remedial stigmatize those who use them and promote reluctulce to seek help among those who may need it most. Stuaents of color at the (hree largest public universities mpoW that a free tutoring s w i m wm available for &ern, but xlot for Asianh e r i e m or whilet sbdents. A swdent could, therefore, onXy the mwice by, as one enginwring switcbez put it, laklling hi Maek lamr," At one of them institutians, all black, Hiwmie md native A m e f i a sadeats (ancI on& ftxm saentsi) who enrol14 for S. M,E. entxy-level e1-m were i n f o m d that registmtion for a w a n d mmskr was contingent upon a t t e n h c e at a Niceweekly mathemtics tutorial program. No exeeptims were mde on the basis of S.A,T, -themtics %cowsor leveE of demnstmtd eomptence, md no aXlowmee w s m d e for work aitrdula, n o s e wha passed the bd-tern exam were e x c u d from a t t e n b e e thereatfier. The progmm, though well-inteation&, had eotmkr-prsductive effwfs:
Er was suppsed to be a minority m t h lab, but it vvas mofe a f a remedial situation, And I m U y had no n d for that, f was doing pr&y weU on my own. So X quit as soon ss I could. (Male Wismnic enginwhg switcher) It was a night fab, you just go there from 6:QOp.m. to 9:QOp.m, and they're s u p p s d to help you. I don't tttrink X m U y n d d it, I didn't try to get out of it. They said we bad to go, but it was a waste of time for me, (Male nstivc: Amedean science s ~ t c h e r )
I didn% want to go to that pragmm because: I felt that it was the: most condescending s i t ~ i o n 1. just felt thst f don't teed that kind of assistance. But they made us go. (Female black mghwhg swieher)
m e qufity of lulahar wwiem offer& to students of mlsr w s also call& h t o qustion, e s p i a l 1y when they wem wmtnrtly rather than depaementatfy orgdd.C h some campum, there:wm no institutionalprovision for individual or graup turtafials: Fmm my exprience, some of the tutors have a hard time with some of the subjects. (Male black engineering switcher)
378
Jssues of Race and E~hnicig M e n X came here I statted going to those tutorials, Now the group is bigger, so there" so pemonal help...I don't thhk discussion alone helps, (Male Hispanic sciencr: switcher) The black enginwfing society has some help for you. They have old tests you ean use to study from, I guess that" sU they had for us. (Male bIaek e n g i n - ~ g svvitcher)
The stermtypic notion that Asim-Amedcm students have m innate advanage in ~ i e n c ea d mthemtics is p r p where the htibtiorz excludes &em from a c w s to acadernie wsismce pragram. We encounter4 Asian-American S.M,E, sbdents who stmggld with their class work, but who had no raaurse to tutoI-ial help: You just hang out together which helps some pmple, but X just dicin" tee1 like that was what I neehd when f was so far behhd in calculus. I really w u l d have X&& to have some kind of t u t o ~ n glike other minority students have available to them. (Female Asian-Ameri.can mginmring switcher) They have an Ashn E n g h w ~ n gSociety, but they don't offer tutofing. it's mare of a social thing. There isn" rwlly any tutoring at all, (Male AsianAmefican science switcher)
As diseussd wrlier, A s i a - h e ~ c a r x swho e m f a d to acsdernic difficulties were unable to turn to their peers for help. Rather than ralizing they were under-prepard or just needed tuhrial help, Asim-Americms who e x p e ~ e n c d amdsmie difficulties were pwuliarly at risk of leaving tbeir mjar in a mood of self-blame: All my life I wanted to be a doetor. I never thought of doing anythkg else.... (huse.) My dad's a doctor and my grandfather too. But f just eoutdn" do the maa. f tried so hard, I raUy did, f don't know why I ceuldn? get it. I'm not inferior in any other subcjat. Something" lacfing in me, f guess, It was just the biggest disappintment I, and my family, ever had to get over. (Fcmate Asian-heri.can science swit-cher)
Fidd-swifie tutoring was largely an unmet n d , exwpt at t w sites where we found a c a d e ~ esuppod program provided by Fndividmf depanments. The physics depadmtent at the East Coast public university had develop4 a tutorid Iabomtory staff4 by graduate students which was open to all undergraduatm. Mmy white students also twk advatltage of the individwlid msisbnce they e wailable. The enginm~ngdepadment at one of the private universities also offer& s Wtorial, program which ww o p n to all $&dents and W wellregarded by them. Smdents of color did not find it stigmatizing, used its services and found it helpful: They've gaEen a, couple of the best T.A.s in the physics depaftrnent have an extra section. ''hey have o ~ n itdto evergrbody in the class now, but they give us preference-as far as getting in, I can see the difference in my grades.
Issues of R ~ c eand Ethnici~
379
I don't know if I would have gotlen this grade in physics had I not had the extra help. (Female black science non-switcher) f had an extm math class which was rmlly good, bmause we got a chance to go aver things and spend extm time working on stuff like the more challenging problems. That vvas a rmlly goad course. That probably got me through the math, (Female black scienee non-switcher) ?ql&y get a graduate studcnt to work with you in the evenings, Tfiere was a big variay of studenb in. those groups, but I think they give preference to mino~ty studenb. X b o w it helH me a lot. X did very well in math, considering my background ws very bad, in the end, I didn" have any problems at all with my calculus. Just: the pmtickg cxtra ptoblems is wh& I liked. I liked it a lot. h d they rmHy encourage you ta study in groups. (Male Asian-American enginering non-switcher)
Smdents who l a c k 4 the options of field-spaifie a i d departmentaj tubring suggesw tfre need might be met by recruiting graduates and m r e senior undergrdwtes in their field as tutors or study-group l d e r s , by organizing field-specific dubs and by bringing fieid-spific program advimm into depaHnxents: Maybe you could set up some kind of system where peopIe who major in physics could hcrlp the undergraduates. We don't have such a system. (Female Asian-Amefiean science non-switcher) I don't think there L a minority program that is field-wise. They pretty much just group p p l e together and have native Ame~canand Lalino programs. E'd filce it if it were a group from the same field g&ting together-like a math or engineering club, (Male Hispanic icnginmfing non-switcher] ARer that s m n d year, I was thinking about switching and I met an advisor in the minto~tyadvising 0 6 % . He's bel@ me the most. H e actually sat down and takd to me to help me figure out what dirwtians X could pursue, He'$ Hispanic and a grmt guy, PI lot of the times when I rally n d to tak, he's I.rc=il@ me. They should have p p l e like him in engineering. (Male AsianArne~canengineehring switeher)
BiscipIine-specificwarkshopsfar S. M. E. students af color were not o f f e r 4 at my of the sibs visitd. We are, however, aware af their effimcy. For example, in the first longiwdinal study af perfommce m d retention effwts of worbhaps far S.M-E. studenb of color, Bonsaape and Brew (1993 reported that the rtcbievemeat and persisknce levels of the 133 gairttcipantrj were si@fiemtly better than the eontrol group. The resarchers track& 320 black, Hispank and ntrtive Anrerim students; over a period of five yaars. They found tulo lmting bnefxb: mty awareness af acadenzic expe~tationsin these mjam and the nwessity of remining commted to student pwrs, prttfessors and academic advisors throughout college. 'This work supports Treismn's (1992) conclusion From his calculus workshop for smdents of calor that an academic
380
Issues cif Rme and Ethniei~
hhmention progmm stmshg exmliaee =&er &m remdiation is t i m md cost egwtive for bOtf3i saden& md their ktitilltions. Bonmme and Drew afso arme that the prabiem of w d e r - p r v r d but able sadmts of wlar can be a a i ~experienw md Eglx e x p W i o m in college. mast eEwtive when collabmtive Immimg and regardlw of m e or @*city. mough we did not find w i a a ox mthemtics & visitd, sbdents' evaimtiom af the rmpprt w o r h b a p at my of the I ,md &a mnmnsus of opinion pragmm wEch we (3nieom&dan Wci a b u t the h&of pmgmm sbdmb of calor would mast like tO see, mpprt. B o n m p e md Drew's h d h g s . Finally, two segments of the S.M.E. rity population for wham there W= na program supprt at m y i n k w i w s i b were non-traditional students a d atMetes of eolor. Non-tmditional sbdents of cotor (who are over-represent& cornpar4 wifh whte sadenb) md athletes af eoior h& occupy a m r g i n a l i d s b b s wG@his exmrb8ted by the de;sip of on t b i r time from their otha r ~ p n s i b i l i t i a a e a d e ~ esupport progmm d e s i p d to fit Older sadmts, W d i s c u s 4 previously, ofien found affective supprt within the nuelwr f a ~ X y However, , they do riot find a d e d e assismw there. Bcteause sbdenb with atMetie wbofars~psare mmmd to be wntd by the advimm and awetic dep&&ment,S.M. E. depa&mnts do not te their need far a a d e h e help. On eveq earnpus we S.M.E. mjors, but none who had been able to prsist in &me mjom. Advbt~ga& Counseli~g g md coumling of students of collar A centml o%ce for (includiag foreip studimts) WM available on all mvea campwes. W e m a mp;ar;ateoffice providied student -ices for foreip shudents, A s i m - h e ~ m s were wmed along with them. 'This, again, r e i n f a d the belief oF other &den& e culture md are in this country on a single program mwhg all smdents af bmporary basis. On to t groups through social events were , This is not usmlty mecmsful bwause students who have suffer& from negative stemtyphg ate just as likely to be prejudiced toward *dents of other racial md ethic groups as whitc: shtdenb who have never experiend it, Atbmpts to proanote smial mixiog across raGial and h i e liam e msumptian that nst being w ~ t coffws : sufficient CO smdmts of diserent racial md e t h i c groups wish to bond d m y mum oEe=. Shdents get tagether when they F& not on the basis of their eulbral differentn~sfrom white skdenh or from each other:
You ean we &at aat only 5" innghmhg, but e v e w h e r e on campus, If you have lunch in the union, you" see gmups of blacks in one corner, Japanese in one eomer, Komns in one wmer, Indians in one corner, and Hispanics in anoaer corner. They" not abb to rec=lateto other p u p s bmause they have nothhg in eammon. (Male black e n + m h g switcher)
However, pravisisn sf o f i w =wing kdividual diRermt racial and etMc aat gultmtee ~3hdenbwill we &em, We ing a d dvising o f f i w on e v e v campw, higMy regard& by students of cofar, Under-uw m u m when: s&dmb do not b o w abut the emice or &e na&re af =mice a%&; they are m b g fiefd-specific advice; tbey have expe~encsd that the price of using the mniccr is stigm: There was a mino~tyadvisor but I wm urnwarn of who she was and she didn't b o w about me, Tawards the end when I t;ak&to her, shc: said, 'You should have come and smn me sooner.WeB, I would have if I had known she egstert, but it was too fate hen to stay in biology. (Female native Amehcan scienw swikber) My student advkar on the flwr a i d , "U", there isn't ratty mueh we a n do.' 1 wuldn't g& to sleep at night-veqhhg was just tehbb! I didn" know about the mino~tyhelp cenbr or any of those Ehh-ngs.I had no clue as to what help was around, No one hel@ me in going to them. It was k ~ b l e I, a n % believe it. men, aftef I drop@ out, then, I found &ere was an Asian Student Counsehg Semiees, (Female Asian-Amerimn scienw suritcher) M e n I was on probation, I got l e m from the 0ffiw for Services for AsianAme~canStudenb saying tfieybv got tutom md could help me. But then I was embanass4 so I didn" want to go to &em for hdg. X felt stupid for g a h g l e r s like that and my metian was, 'What business do they have l o o b g at my gmdm? It's my business and mine alone!' 1 fdt violted. It made me feel mUy dumb. So it khd of baekfwd, I shouM h v e gone in and said, '1 r a l l y a d help, I don*tknow haw to organize my tirne so I can study right, ' I t was too late when I r a k d . I l a m & an my own haw to do all those &ings. 1 did it the hard way. (Female Asian-Ameriean seienee switcher)
I th*, for some blacks, it's s digna- It's like, ' M y go there when there's a lot a f other adv&ofs?"'ve been there only once, just to get info just so cult& by skin color going to that type of advisor. (Male b l a ~ k enginmhg switcher) The Office for Mino~tieswen: all klfing me, 'Don" take any mare than 12 credits.' The book is saying I should at least take 15. ff I e e 12 crdits I'm gonna be here for six yarn. And theyke like, 'Don% w o w &out h€. You can take summer classes. Take 12 crdits. ' S o I took 15 and that w s fme; my grades were good. But I should have gone to the regular engineering advisor b m u s e I didn't do the right mre rquirement wurses and the minority oflfi@e
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doesnt teU you about that. X got way behhd and I, I had to drop out of the gragmm, m a l e black m g h m h g sdtcher)
Depadmnts wkcb had their o w advising and caunseling program far each e t ~ group e r a e i v d the most favamble eo ts, Students fomd it was ially helphl tr, have p r munwlars who uppr*twmm of their awn diseipXine and ehicity: It% helpful in that it givm mi-nahties a cbanee to help each other out, If for some rmson they don't rant to ask the; question in elms, they can put it off and ask &eh fdend, a senior who's been there before, (Male Hispanic engheering non-swliteher) 1% be able to do it. It's jjust gonna take me a little longer. But I was kind& gelting anxious for a while 'cause I could see my friends moving on through the course work irnd I've had to backtrack a few times. The Latino adviser got me connwtd to a gradwe student, a Latino guy in M.C.B.B., and he kmps me eneoumgd. (Male Hispanic science non-switcher)
I've work& for the S e n i c e ~far hian-Arnefican Students office and f was a p r counselor this past year, We were assigned students who were in the same n 4 a r and I think that hel@ the students a lot, They would get f d b a c k from somdody whose b a n through it as far as how to prepare far exams, and what kind of courses to a e . (Female Asian-Amer_ierznscience non-switcher)
I wish I had, not a tutor, but more of a peer counsdar. There weren't any in engirtwkg, I could have gone over to Black Student Semiees, but there wemn't any e n g h m h g or msfh students. If I'd had a p r mentor in enginwhg, it would have made a big difference. (Female black enginmfing switeher)
On c a q u s s with no pmr comeling by disciplule, attending nrinority professional society mwthgs (e.g., for bla& and h r Niwmie errgin@=) ww a way ta get &vice from upper-classmen or gradwte students. Sttldents atso found these orgmimtioas helpful in amaging w h e t s with professionals, either as mentors or as potential employers.
Od't?tlitag~nPr~gmms hifay bstitutions offer swiaf program to students af coXar htwm their p m c e into m undargriadwte progmm md the start of their first semester: these rmge from one-day orienhtions to intensive a a d e d c program lnsting . Regardtlss of program type, student evaluations conbind m " g: where hey enmumge shdents of ealar who do not yet ralizf: they are under-prepard to believe that a1l they n d to succeed is a high Ievd of confidence, they are set up not only for failurn, but also fox self-blame: ?"heyinvite prosptive minarip students-about 8W or so, And they tour you, f d you, put on the whole show, X went and it was grat. h d they kept sayhg, You can do snything you want.' But you know, you can%rmlly if you
don%have the propr background, I think it" f i e far those who c m , but it's mislwding for those who can", and it redly isn't g o d to give t.hem false h o p and m&e &em feel &e they didn't do so good, b w u s e they didn" have enough confidence in ~ e m e l v w (Male , Hispanic enghec=hg non-svvitcher)
I vrtas in the b ~ d g program e and them wem students &err: who f didn" thi& czaufd handle it-because
hey wemn" teU-prvrurd. It wasn't their character or their in&Egence or anything. It was who they wem cotnptht; against. They were just toa far behind, (MabHispank seienw non-switcher) The summer pmgmm befom fmshman year giva you help in t h e manage mmt, lmming to use the tibmry, how to study. They also give you hands-on exphenee in the worEng worlds you might wish ta enter. However, they push p p l e toward certain discipfines which lead to work roles n d e d on regemations. That" okay if: you am kmperamenhlty and inteflmtually suit& to thae, but there is a danger that you may drop out if you discover you are unsuited, rather than just changing majors. (Male native Amed~anscience nonswitcher) The cczllege does offer a rnhodty program in the summer, Shee the students fmm my high school have been mming here, half have fieft. So I think they R& to w o r h o r e on retention. (Male native Ame;r"icanscience switcher) Sbdents s t r m d t h t orientation program emld not address a n u m b r of problem they =W as firnhmental afld widesprad-deficiency in the quality md d q t h of high school science m d m t h e m t i c s , md in the provision of appropriate eounseling in those high ~ h o o . 1where ~ swdents of color are numerical1y doaninant:
My undembnding of the big problem is that you don't get pregard enough. Therefore, you should deal d t h the problem at the lower levels---K through 12. Because once we get here, aarition mtes are horrible, f think tqing to fix the problem at a fater skge,..I meitn, a month in the summer to m&e up for 12 years! That" unrwlistic. They should be dmling with the problem back there. Vouke going to have to s p n d billions of dollars, like you would in the defense budget to solve the grobbm. But you know that's sot going to be likely (Maleblack science non-switeher) Students also p o i n t 4 out the difficulties of atbnding a su where no finmeial provision W% offerd: in the su mmy sadents need to work in order ta mve money for tuition and living expmses.
Retetenttbn Prognams W e n st-udents of eafw who have kmn actively recruit& by particular S.M.E. departments arrive on earnpus and find there are no retention effods w i t h h those departmen&, they feel mgry and a b m d o n d . Institutions often m m u r e the sucmss of their r ~ k n t i a neffods by the n u r n k r of sbdents of color who r e m i n emolled regardless of major and offer only campus-wide retention
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progmm. Not only do &W prclgmm faif to s u p & s u e n t s in their orighal roajas, their shff tend to r d i n x t studenb expiencing dificulty into m j o m where tXrey are more likely to $dub: The rmson I Game to this univeaity wag beeause I wm conhet& by them. I bad hmrd of rhe mhofity enginmhg p m p m , but I don" t h a it e ~ s @ ..X , found &ere%just a minority e a t i o n ofiw over on the mah campus. (Female black enginmhg suribher) X got a tetter fmn, I begwe the provost, saykg that they" sr:&hg a pmgram to mmit minorities. But since the l e r , f have mt had any foflow-up- (Male W ispanic science suvikher)
A b r I fa84 that mlh wurse, the advisor in the Mach Luthcr b g program said, 'Just pick out classm &at mund inh~sting.And do that for a couple quarters, It dtoesn" maMer if they count for anflhg or not, Just see. what you like to do.-at% shy f took communimtions- (Male Hispmie seienee switcher) From the s&derrts"vactive, a e i r cfimem of pmisteaw are mast by what is offer4 by a e i r depafimnts rather than. their htitutiom. Departments that were d e w f i M as g a srious effort to help them persist were &ose w ~ c h :provided p r eounmiirxg; encouragd or o r g d d meatohng by fwulty or graduak studenits; mt up shdy groups; o R e r d lutohal =§ions with T.A.s or other s u e n t s ; and h i r d male md f e m l e fsulty of d o r . Although they also weleomd offers of practical help or eneoumgement all fwult;y, shdenb of mlor dwdfibed fsulty of eofor ats g additional hnctions that were relievmt to a e i r persistence: they act le m d e l s in b n d h g thexn to the mjor; act as radnders that, pmple af all and etkcities ean w e e d ; prewme cultural camections md undersbd slmb the faliaciw of s t e r m t y p ~ : The k a b s and even the Japanese think a lot less of blacks. But you put rz bbek instmar with a Ph.D. in fmnt of them tind they have to learn from that instmetor. It gives &ern a differnag pemptive. (Mab black engheefing swikher) There are mXe models on the faculty for black students hex-in every depameat, nesrly. It% pr&ty good now, actuafly. ftk good to see. It gives you a lot to look foward to, You sec:diverse backgrounds there, and It makm you fix8 good wa&ng down to class. Mayb one day..,. (Male black enginmkg swikher) icirzly ,appreeiatd thaw deparltments All shdents, regardless of race ific:work-shdy opprmnity or md fwulty who hacl given h e m a d ect* found that eh the chmce to be involve8 with a o p p o m ~ t i efor s any undergmdwtes were rare an all seven eampases. Hawever,
Issues cif R ~ c eand Ethnic*
385
s&deats wha bad k n involved in de~a&mentafrmmmh w e r ~v e q enthusi~tie a b u t their exw~eneemd felt it grmtly @&m& their jjlterest in the field. For swdeats of e ~ l o rmpialfy, w o r b g alangside mnior s d e n t s md faculty c r m h II of b l ~ n g i n g ,and d i ~ l their s mnse a;f imlation. Remmh exphence md work-shdy program were also a sourw of f-inmcialassismce, , had b n critical hallowing studenb of color to wntinue in their mjor: I just s t i z w dohg mmmh b m u s e f thought I would gain a bewr w o r b g hovvldge of the mkriaf.h d I found that being kvolvd in m a r c h , I didn't feel We one of a 2,W minnows trying to s ~ upstrmm. m It gave me a place that was atnnost Ilke home. X feel a part of sorn&hhg. So that gives me mare stabglity here. (Male blaek science non-swit~her) The Student Resarch OpvF(unities b g r a m is for p p k e of colsr within the university, Et's h the Big 510 sehaals, and you did a research project one-anone with a professor in your a m . You picked whatever yau want& ta do and it took all summer, At the end of the suntrner you did a presenbtian, I know it gat more of us interest4 in gmd sehool, (Male native; Amehan scienw non-switcher)
f think that if they set up a program where your tuition and fiving e x p n s e ~ are paid for and then got you a mearch position in samething relevant, you wouM cut out a lot of the middle cost of running a minoGty progmm and youke ly ~ t the h problems tlzat studmts have, e s ~ i a l l y fmaneial, And since we" isolatd from the faeitlt-y, you get same individual eonbct. (Male black seienw non-swikher)
Unfo-natefy, mast pragmm inbnded to baefit shdents of cofar w a e not eomectd ta depafimats, w r e not s h f f d by S, M .E.facuf ty ,staff, or swdt?n&, were ntre open to all studenb, and were m$comwted to depa&ment;il rme;airch. activities. Some existing depadmntal pmgmm (fbr bth sludeats of eolor and women) wme swn as of I l i ~ t va d e af their mrginal sbtus. Mere program are undemhffd, ma in a fmhioa, or where faculty dimunt the efforts mad(; on their behalf by program staff, it is hard h r sbdeats af color that the depafiment considers them i m p ~sssion.A take program s t i g m t i m and demorali~s solor md reiarforces their suspicion that they are unwmted md nnwelcome.
Som of the probXem fa& by sbdents of color in S. il4S.E. -jars paraf lei thaw exp~exleedby whib shtdents. a h a problem am experiensd exclusively by %&dentsof cdor, md their ~ b r a c t e ra d impact vs-iiies both b e h w n ajnd within racial and ethnic groups, The probfem which white asld non-white shtdents &are are not a random amay, but arisc: from sinailaritim in their m i o economic circummces md &ucatianal experiences, For example, we found
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Issues of Race and Efhnieity
chmsing a major for inappropri s to be a strong patbm among women (of all & h i e i t i s ) and also af eotor wha have b n s o c i a l i d dab the wrwr q i m t i o m of faznilies, teachers md co models. For these %Mm&, chooskg to p1 others (mless this coincides with prwnal inkrets a d goals) o h n l d s to h a p p i n e s s h the m j o r md placm them at high risk af lwving it. Goncep-l difficulties li&d with inadquate aratian in mthemtics and science are also problem that are y while and non-white sbdents wbo atknded scfiiwls wkch were ilities, Eunding and qmlified tachers. n u s , the under-prepamtion of color reflec;l& not only the stmcturd I n q w l i t i s of r w and ethicity, but also thorn of a i a X class Oparticularly gross regional a d local disparities in s b h r d s md provision for public schools). Rwent rwmitment drives intend4 to encourage S.M.E. enrollment among high school students of wlor have hunderd in no smff part h a u s e they have sought to foster individual motivation, self-confidence a d mpiratian to scienw-based earwm, whiXe the uneven quality of pre-college eduation remains under-addrwd, Institutions af higher education have the howledge, resourczes md power to pmmote chmge in bath cairnpus a d saeiebl attitudes that pewmate problems of sterwtyping and prejudice hdents of eofor. In reeent yars, wme institillions have made strong e ents to diversity, quity and civility on their campuses. Colleges am p the quality and supply of tachers throughout the educational system. Some eollege seience depaftments (m we11 as the National bb-ctratories) have k n active in efforts ta improve the qwlity of presollege -themtics and sienee twhing through out-rmch and enrichment program for elernenbq, junior and high sehaal mchem, At. the same time, the numbr of pre+ollege mchers with a baccalaureate degrm in the sciences continues to fall, As we d e w r i m in Glxapkr 4, even in science dtr;pa~mentsinvolvd in h c h e r etlfiehmmt program, 3.M .E. faeulty continue to discourage their o m gradmte md undergraduate students frorn choosing a a r w r in science or mthemtics twching. The problem faced by students who= level af confidence e x e d s their level of preparation is one uhappy result of the uneven attention given to t minofity shoo1 &ildren an the one science promotion and r ~ w i t m e n among hand, md the uneven quality of their pm~offegeeducation on the other. m e eontnibutian of colleges md S.M.E. depadments to the national effort to inerme enrollment by students from traditionalty under-represent4 groups is, as we have ilIustrat4, s&n counter-prductive. Schmls who covextly rduce their entrance rquirements for stud from particular racial or e t h i c groups-espwially where depadmmts e hsuscient effort to supporl the sludenb thus a d ~ t M - e x p a w undergraduates to stigm md high risk of failure. r oxientrttion program which focus on confidence-building, but pay insufficient attention to gaps in entry-level h a w l d g e and skills, and to the
provision of a wherent de;partmenta;l mppfe system, also b e r m e their pa&ieipmts%sIk: of a r l y b i m c b t m e n t a d failure. k k of stmetuml coherenm also u d e ~ n e sinstit-utional arrinority ramitment efio&. W e m the advimry, tutorial, fi~mciaXmd mntoring knctiam of depafiments an8 central ard~nistmtionitre X iX p u b l i c i d or Imissing, and the attibdm of faculty or dvim of color dr, not five up to the publie sWement;s of college expras doubt abut the sincedty af bstitultiaml d-ivexsity: The fact of the rngger is 90 p r w n t of most blacks are u n d e r - p ~ a r dfor a university c u ~ c u l u m .Xf the university gives them the opprtunity and they don't make it, &ey're off the haok, T h q can say Che chance was affardd to them. (Female black enghwhng non-switcher) The goventmat helps fund this institution if they rwruit so rnany minority students. T h i s i s the r a s o n that they've l& minshty students into e n g h e e ~ n g . The school gets credit for the had-count eoming in, but they don't count how rnany are ehop* d o w . (Male bhck enginwring non-swikher) They open the Rood gates and then they w a d e r why these p g l e suffer. But they can say, 'Weke given them the apgodunity, T h e administration" aaltitude is, 'You've only got such and such on your S.A.T., but we% let you in anyvvay because we believe in you, "eXief is not going to get you through. It's preparation and supporl. (Male Hispanic science switcher)
The m i a l class basis of same serious problems that are shard by white a d n o n - w ~ t estudents is particularly evident in the growing financial burden directly shoulder4 by undergradu;;rtes. Ajfl sbdents from fa'axnilies of modest m m s fwl under-served by the present level oaf fxrxmcial aid, T%ey also work longer hours than the prdorninmtly white, male nriddle- a d upper-class swdents of pr~viousgenemtions ta pay for their d u a t i a n and living expenses, md warrcy they m y not be able to find work appropriate to their degree md which em sustain their college debt burden. The effwt of these coneems u p n the canrat md &lure sludertt profile of g r a b md prafasional schools c m o t be underestimtd, Wether or not they are a rmlity for most studwts of color, the existence of fiilnds a r - m r k d for under-reprewntd groups, and the suspicions of white and Asim-America sadents that same questionabte claim b ~ n o r i t ysbms are in order to gain wcms to them, are m ~ o r cont-ributors ta the ine n. c a w u s racism noted by ourmlves and other obsemers. In addition to the growing financial problem of all working-class, ~ddfe-class,sadents, black and Hispmie students with m n o ~ e lilies far their fa~ly-of-figin, as well as all single parents, c a v an additional FtnmeiaI burden which mi against their persistmce in those undergraduate or g r d m t e mjors wbi the hmviest demands on students" time,
388
&sues of Race and Ethnicity
One important diffbmce with white students is that studentsof color overall a s s i p more blame for failure to complete an S.M.E. major to their own perceived shortcomings than to inadequacies in their education. For students of color, the decision to leave an S.M.E. major is not taken lightly. Switching provokes a more profound seme of personal inadequacy, shame and failure than is experienced by most white switchers. How these are expressed varies according to the expectations of particular subcultures and the degree to which students feel they have failed to meet them. However the tendency to self-blame is common across minority groups. It is responsible for the greater risk of leaving college altogether (rather than simply switching majors) observed among students of color. Loneliness, feelings of rejection by the dominant group and the perceived importance of college graduation, per se, contribute more to minority switching decisions than informed preference for alternative fields of study or careers. Other problems bearing upon the loss of studentsof color both fiom S.M.E. majors and fiom college which are not shared by white males, are those deriving from conflicts between cultural values, family roles, educational socialization, community obligationsand career expectations on the one hand, and the values and demands of college science and engineering on the other. Helping students to confront and resolve these conflicts requires an understanding which is subculturally specific. Broad programs of "minority" support (including advising or mentoring), which lack understanding of the needs and perspectives of particular student groups will not improve retention. As we discussed with reference to women, many of the personal difficultiesfaced by students of color follow predictable patterns. When their origin and nature are understood by program directors, counselors or advisors, they can be anticipated, planned for and pmmpted. Even where the traditional teaching, advising, and mentoring practices of faculty and S.M.E. departments are slow to respond to the broadening of their client base, students can survive when they are encouraged to share their concerns, helped to understand the sources of their problems (especially lapses in confidence) and offered practical strategies to surmount them. The well-publicized Failure of minority recruitment and retention initiatives has prompted a search for more effective alternatives. One danger in this second round of initiatives ( a l d y discernable in our participants' accounts), is to grasp at over-simple versions of strategies which can be useful when their strengthsand limitationsfor particular purposes and groups are understood. Such is the case with efforts to formalize relationships which, on an informal basis, have traditionally promoted persistence among white male students-most commonly, the organization of collaborative learning, tutorial and workshop programs, and faculty-student mentoring. As we have illustrated, these initiatives tend to mis-fire unless they are based on a culturally-specific understanding, including how peer groups actually work, how to serve students in need of '
&torid suppart witfiout stigmatiziag them, a d what kinds of mentoring relationships shldents of color achLally need. As Peb~m~1. (1995) has pointed out, sbdmls md yomg faeufty of mlor often give g of haw progms in pmfessianai (iaeluding aeadernic) . Meeting this n d r q u i r a active recruitwnt of senior fmsiandf y-stive, w e l l - ~ o r md n ~who ~ hsist on tatian h m their progg&. Pmmn obmwm b r as menbm are o h n the I w t productive sat thass: fwulty m o ~apt t or pmfmionalfy active membm of dqa&ments. In s simtian where male both a t e md non-wsk femle fwuIty are still linrjltd k ty and opposite p d e r fa~ultycan be egstive -tom for sudents sf color. Hawever, to be a good mantar r q u i r s an u n d ~ r s m d h gof af sbdents from padicular sub+ulhares, the m wntxibute to the m d e ~ programs c difficulties of the p p l e they are intended to seme. This is not to s r p e that en.ts of color would km better off without them, As non-witchars espially e clear, relevmt a d timely supprt had k n mmntiiif. tcr their prsistenm. owever, they wem arm claw a b u t which &$S of a c d e ~ supprt c semiy-bmd, fieid-spi fic, opn v e ~ i ddepadment.rit1 , , mey m y include inbractive computer progmm, ion with faculty, T A s or student tutors-whether as bdividmls or in smll groups,. They must also be oHer& at t dtow w e s s to e q l o y d sbdm& md athletic shalars, Amdedc md smppd em be effativaly o r g ~ for d sbdents sfiariaig the =me dodtor*im (or other domestic ~ & ) or, offer& through mietim. Sad=@ strongly &v-M the me?of wmedisei ty gro~p)shdmt tutors who are paid far their work. n e y also any o p p m ~ t yto work with fwulty nal W k . 'This m m d also to ibe; the most &m, band to the discipline md l a m how science is le our undemmding of and expe~eacewith what works best is still g sbdents to aws how well sMent suppor"t experiments are urcrrGng, md adjusting &em in the light of what they a y , is more prductive t h blind ztdherence to any paflicular s t o As to the brod, national strabgy to enrollment md pemisbnce among smdents af color in the sciences, that the acfiievement of grater numbrs alone does not r w l v e the unique problem of shdents of mior that W have dmcribed. Though a I m e r racial or ethic cohort can elarly insulate students of eolm ffom pmnd damage e;cusecf by expressions of peet hostility, it does wddras other prsisknce factors, and, ss we have the level of racism on campuses: pro h e r a s the parti n of sbdmts of color have also in
390
lsrsues clj?Race and Ethnicijy
hostility by w i d e h g and EgMighthg hquities in, access h college ducation for the c ~ l d m of aU families with m d m t in The first r a n d of tion progmm, which atbmpted to addrws the predicu national. shortfatll in "-pwer without questishg the t mumptiom an which &ey were rwruiM from the wEte, m f e Went p f ' m s t of thaw tbraugbt abie to do science, Cwtbg a wider net a m n g womn, shdents of collar and sadents with dimbilitim so as to dmw in talent hiherto mi e g a d snse in these , It also sc=emd the right thing to do at a time when the idea of diversity was gaining wider ~ c e p b c e As . concern about a sho&ge of ~ienfificill[lytrai-nd workers shiR& to mnccsms a b u t the sfioage new h q u i ties m d mcial bnsians begm ta emrge, X1 af p l of ability to do science w a not, as trartitionally su but grew as our undemmding of how to teach mthemtics and seience e n d . We discovered that all stcldents bneftt fjrorn. improvemenb in ogy, bat that the bnefits to u n d w r e p r w n t d groups are wen grat@r*As the mtionafe for bbwantion sG% more elwrly in the dirwtion of quity in educational m e s s , both the g d s md methds of ""minoritypfagram" m d our depndence on 60 nity and junior coltegef to bridge gaps in the college preparation of many high school wniors, have to be v i w d as intefim strategies. Smner or fater, W n d to decide h a w to address the structural ineqmlities ia publiG p=-college education and in the national system of student finmciaf supp&.
Some Conclusions and Their Implications We began this inquiry as part of the national effort to clarify the factors mntributing to high attfitioa rates from S,M. E, majors-whether for white men, or for women and shdenh of eolor. In digwsing our findings at a v a ~ e t yof ktihrtions, it hars b ~ o m clear e that, a1thougt.i most faculty a66ept that it has proved harder to retain than to recruit students from under-represented groups, they do not necessaily accept there is % problem' of washge for the white male mjority. It is for this reason that W mught the help of the figher Education Reswrcft Xnstimb, ZI.C,L,A., in establishing the rates of loss for S.M.E. mjors campar& with other groups of mjors. The desire to m r g i n a l i ~the issue of wwbge is undersmdable, given the sim of the problem, and the eonsquences of sing it seriously, The loss of 40 to 60 percent of a group of students with higher than average abilitieswithin hxro years of sing their first college science or mthematics class would hts a sfious mtter nowithsmding the widenw of higher loss rates among those ' odty students (by gender, race or ethicity) on whose rwmitmmt and retention mueh money md effofi has b n e x p n d d , Our obsenations suppart the conclusions from suemssive C.1.R.P. studies that the problem of washge is not mrgkai, but a f f ~ t sthe white m l e m ~ o d t yin most or all S.M.E. depadments on, most or a11 c a q w e s . We, or others, may pirzt to institutions , history which are exceptions ta this generaliisaof pafiicular type, ~ s s i o n ox tiaxl, but tKs does not ehmge its validity for most: 3,M.E. undergraduabs. The difficulty fox E ~ u l t ywould appar to be that of rdefining something as problem? which has Xo n e e n for g r m t d as an appropriate md 1 consequenw of a gy that semes eshblished, md largely unchallenged, stu$ent selection objectives. Switching is not defined as a problem when it is believed ta be causd, on the one hand, by wrong choices, underpreparation, lack of sufficient interest, ability or hard work, or on the other, by
the diwotreq of a pmsion for mo&m discipihe. Either vvsy, there is little that fmuity fm1 bey W, m should, do a b u t ~ p l whu e leave for such The difficdty a b u t our data is &at &ey m p f i aei&er type of explsrxl s that witcbms md nonswitcbg. We find m supp& for the swikhers c m be sufficiently disti-clpishd of bigh ~ j ; ~ b m prepamti~n~ l ee mm or eR0rt.t- e x p n d d , explain. why one group leaves md the o&@rgroup shy%.Nor do wikhem natty divide into thaw who a n p w h d out (by happrqriab choice of major choice, low= ability, pmrer preparation, lower levds of interwt, or m w i l l h p m s ta WO&), md &ose; who are pulled out on elmwhere). h t h e r , our data suggest a new r w o m for switching a ~ s h e r q o m e to a set of probiem e x p i e n ers md nun-s~tchersalike, m e m wm a high level of agrmmmt across the whole stuident sample a b u t the issues that lead to defwtioa by swikhers md smtisfwtian among nonswitchws, and to strong sidlarities in the i m p membrs of w h group ascxiw to mch set of wncems. On the basis of their relative perceived siflifiemce, we p s i t that problem which arise from the stmcwre of the ducational expeience and. the culture of the diwipline (as reflected in the a much grmter contribution to attiades and practim of S,M.E, faculty) S.M.E. attrition thm the individwl i n a d q w i e s sf sbdents or the a p p l of other mjoa. The assumption that most svvikhhg is 'apprapfiatekb~uresthe loss of tws groups of sadeats whom S.M.E. fmulty &ght prefer to r-in, They d g b t be deserim as the "ore pulled thm push&', and the 'more pushed than pulld'. The fir& group i n e l d w very able, o h n multi-talented, students vvha have a strong interest in seience and mtbematics and would have stayed had tfie teaching bmn more stimutating and the cukcula m r e imginative. AIChough they are drawn to majors which promise a fuller educational experience, they rehin their seientik interest and m d e s of thought and seek ways tu combine shrdents these interests with their new mjom andlor areer p l m , expressed ambivalenceabout switching and harbored thoughts of resu scimtific shdies at same future date, They attributed their decision to leave almost exclusively to the poverty of the educational experience created by the w d - o u t system. Nowithsmding th abilities spm the arts, sciences md h to science, mthemtics md engirzwring. The wand group of sadents (who are m m pushed thm pulled), are tRose wha 5x1 they have the ability to wolplete an S.M.E. degree, were &equate& prepared, and entered their S.M .E. major largely on the basis of interest. They ts af the wd-atxt process a d , bsome d i m u m g d by poor although they would prefer to stay in the sciences, they move into mjors which they regard as a poor compromise. Them were among the most angry, regretful and fmstratd of a11 the swdents whom we inkmiewd. They felt their choice
C o ~ l u s b mand Implications
393
of an S.M.E. major had been appropriate, and that they could have completed it, given some faculty support aod a less cut-throat atmosphere. The accounts of w o m a md swdmtx of wlor who swikhed could be desefiber5 in this Though we, of course, encountered students whose switching was riate', in that they bad chosen unwisely, were under-prepared, or did not (by their own admission) work hard enough, our data lead us to hypothesize that, on evely campus, there are substantialnumbers of able students who could be retained in S.M.B. mjm were appropfiate changes m d e in depadmmtal assumption encountered among faculty and challenged by ing involves the discovery af errors in student choices, judgments or self-perceptions, and represents logical action to c o m t these. By this interpretation, tbe weed+ut system is defined as 'cmel to be kind'. As indicatd a h v e , the Odesian view of students as either %scientistshr "ot scie-xrtists\obsurm the loss skdents with the abiliq to do scienceit v e q well. The nature of the suritehing including same who scoald h prwess revealed in snildenils" s very diferent from that imgine;d by S.M.E. faculty. We found to l a v e m S.M,IE. m j o r was always ation af a dialope with self and others over were d r a m back a d fodh bhw the options that T";yicalfy, the proems begm with poor ex@enees in first ymr a d , for some, the d i s c a v e ~of mder-preparation, It uras dmpenftB by a mhes of & a d e ~ ccrisw and dimppixltments that provokd anger towards padicular faeulty, advisors or hching assisats, Students begm to experience sdf-doubt and lowered confidenw in their to do science. They bwame disillusion& with science and the scieneecarwrs to which they had would be wo&h the eEo& q i r d , arzd quationd whether ptting th and distress hvolveid, Qmly then did they bel;h to consider a switch to those non-S.M.E. clmws where they had expfiencd btter teaching andfor more satisfmtion with their a c a d e ~ cwork, Bomtial switchers discus& these expefierlices with athem, and, even at a late skge, some who came very close to svvitchirtg d w i d d to stay. The prmess of moving back md f"o&h b e ~ w n thoughts af lmving and shying E srsU from a fevv months to over W s years. However, the finat dwisisn wm typically t~ggeredby a 'fast straw-incident or m instilutional deadline. This explains why the rmsans for switching given by shdents in exit intewiews (in the rare insbees where: thwe are oRere$) are oeen so p u d i n g to the d m or advisor wbo hwrs them, With r e s w t to the choiee of S.M.E. mjors, our dab offer c t a r evidence that a combination of inbrest in the d i ~ i p l i n eand the carwr(s) to which it , realism abut c Is md some masure of Jtmism, are conducive to prsistence. Howeve .non-switchem who enter S.M, E. mjoxs for what they subsquantly r q o r t as the "rong>msans, nevertheless suntive, The suwival of some shdents, but nat athers, despite v e v s i d l a r problems,
394
Conclwim and fmplicalions
depends part1y on their acquisition of particular attitudes and strategies, Wether they find sufficient a w d e ~ cand personal supprt (from institrlrtional, faculty, pmr and other sources) to sushin their motivation and morale is also critical. Their interest in the disciplimre must also be strong enough to survive a pbgogic-a1 style dictated by W&-out objwtives, Students must develop a persp~tivewhich effmtivdy insulatcfs them from foss of self-confidence, 'This ineludes viewing faculty behavior toward under-classmm as ""a game," and not g their displays of indifference personally; =king help with a c a d e ~ c cufties as they arisr;: from my available source; and developing c ~ t e r i afor acadernie progress that are hdepndent of grdc;s. We were rather dismyed also to digover the role in survival played by ituclk (ia tacating the rmources n d e r l ) and by chmtkg. We found no evidence to support contentions that significant contributions to S.M.E. attrition are made by the size of classes, per se, the (allegd) poor t-utorial abilities of Mching assismts, the inadqmcy of Xabratory or computer facilities, or flaws in the linguistic, pedagogical or social skiffs of foreip faculty or (foreim) tmhing assismts, Focus on these non-problem rather thm on the central issues of p h g o g y , student mmssment, curriculum d e s i p and advising, is mother way to mrghaXi;r;e the problem of attrition. It is afsa c f a t from our data that the most e f f ~ l i v eway t s imprave retention among women md students of color, and to build their numbers over the longer-tern, is to improve the quality of the Immixzg experience for all smdy science and studmts-including those non-science mjors who wish =themties as part of their overall education. n o u g b f'aculty sametimes like to begin a grogram of r e h m with discussi~nsof cuAculurn content and stmcture, this is unlikely to improve retention unless it is part of a parallel dis~ussionof how to m u r e mximum student comprehension, application and transkr, and give shxdents maningful f d b a c k on their acadedc e, We have no illmion that faculty will find this easy. Even to begin sa hnhmentat a debate r q u i r a a willinmess to explore the body of knowlcsdge about how ~ p l l ae m th& has largely been rfevetoe by fwulty who are; not memhrs of S.M. E, diepadmen&. Ta effwtively address student concerns about lack of faculty engagement in their Iwming in the first two years of S.M.E. class-, Involves a shifll of objwtiwes from selmtion to eduation. This too is difficult, partly because it involves cfimge in dettply s o c i a l i d attiturtes, and partly -use it has impliestions for the criteria by which sbdents are far are not) adHlritted into particular S.M.E, colleges, depadments or clams. Abandonmcmt of smdent selttction as asr impormt objective of introductory seienee and mathematics c l a s s in favor of inbXlec-l stimulation, csneeptual g r w and student szlppsrt, also has profound implications for high school. sciencr: and mathematics. Reducing or elifninating the need far a sele~timproeess in the first two ymrs of college (which is cumently a~eortlplishedby the weed-out process), requirs
Conclusians and lmplicarions
395
that the process of student admission become more selective, the selection process more reliable and that a better fit is created behveen enrollment numbers and disciplinary resources. This, in turn, implies the adoption of co learning standards for science and mathematics by which both colleges and high school seniors, can, with greater confidence, compare levels of knowledge and skill. However, national or regional teaching and shrdent performance standards by discipline are not yet part of the United States' educational tradition. Without such standards, large numbers of able students will continue to be wasted because they enter college unaware that they are insufficientlyprepared to tackle their first college sience and msthemties classes. The negative cansquences of the present state of affairs fall most heavily on precisely those underrepresented minority groups whose higher level of enrollment is the target of m n y current initiatives, Especially for students of coior, encouragement to reach beyond their level af rwdiness (though not ability) i s espcscially disastrous, The incrwsing financial burden of college education on students themselves, b i n d with the variable quality of their science md mthernatics preparation, es the high level of S,M,E, attrition also an indicator of ineobe~nceand ~nequityin pre-eollege a i d college dueational provision, s-hrds md hnding, 3in m n y ways, our most distressing finding comes as an aside to out m i n research concerns. This was the eonsistmt discovery, campus by campus, that seien~eand mthemtics tmching is devalued as a carwr for S,M.E, baccalaureates, mcl that shdents with a strong inbrest in taching scienee and mathematics are eff~tivelydiscaumgd from pursuing this carwr path, As described earlier, we have visit& a number of campurns and Bepal.tmenl of Energy laboratories which offer 'tmcher enrichment programs-a existing elementary and high school science and mthematics twchers who are, for the most part, not science or mthematies baccalaurate;s, However, a m n g Iarge sbte universities, research instihtions a d Eikral arts colleges, we have encounter& only one initiative1which encourages S.M.E. mjors to consider a catwr in science and mthemtics tmching by of"fering m integrated (five-year) program of taeher education concument with a science degrm. We think there may be others, but that they are not to be found in the minstrarn institutionswhich most S.M.E. undergraduates attend. We have also found the level af conhet betwen S. M ,E. fxulty arxd the science and mathematics spmialists in Colleges of Education on the same campuBs to be Xsw or non-existent, The lack of such a dialogue inhibits discussion of ways to promote science and mathematics teaching as a the path to professional certification for S.M.E. mjors who would like ta teach. It also represents the toss of an opportunity to draw upsn the pdagogical and program evaluation b o w l d g e m d skills of ducation heulty that are available to S.M.E. depadmenh on most campuses. In a forthcodng study, we intend to further explore the extent of interest in t ~ c h i n g citrwrs in the sciences among b t h S.M.E. undergradwte and graduate
3%
ConcIruwns and Implicarions
popdatians, the nature aud relative importance of barriers to teaching c a m for S.M.E. graduates and dtemative ways to surmount them. Finally, we offer some observratioas on the nature of the evidence described in this report. In discussing our data with S.M.E. firculty, we sometimes encounter the objection that the state of affairs collectivelyportrayed in students' accounts is based on 'anecdotal' evidence. Strictly speaking (From its Greek root), an 'anecdote' is an unpublished account. In more general usage, it is a story which is casually heard and has no coheremt, patterned connection to other stories on the same theme. By either usage, the accounts which form the text data for this study am not d o t e s . Accounts which are gathered and analyzed in a systematic manner allow the investigator to discover things that cannot easily be discovered by any other means. In complex human affairs, noticing the patterns in the independent accounts of expert witnesses plays the same role as laboratory observations in the formation of hypotheses. As the reader will perhaps umcede, there is much to be learned by treating such accounts with resl"=ctAll of the themes and patterns we bave identified in these data are offered as hypotheses, propositions, indications or caveats. However, since the conclusion of this study we have conducted a shorter, companion study (Seymour & Hunter, 1996) of graduate and undergraduate students with disabilitiesin S.M. E. majors. An entirely unexpected, but very strong, finding From this second study was the degree to which the experiences of students with disabilitiesreflect and confinn those of the switchers and persisters described in this account. By their accommodation requests, students with disabilities i n a d v m t l y challenge rules which S.M.E. faculty see as necessary for the protection of high academic standards and are thereby forced into conflict with the formal and informal rules which govern proin S.M.E. majors. Thus, students with disabilities "stress-test" the Wit rules by which S.M.E. firculty operate, and in doing so, bring the essentially moral character of these rules into even sharper focus than do the accounts of s w i t c h and pemisters in this study. We continue to discuss our findings with students in a growing variety of institutional contexts, and feel we can offer the hypotheses presented here with some confidence. We hope that some readers will test our hypotheses among other student populations that are available to them. We have received a number of communications from colleagues who have done so, and who confirm particular aspects of our experience. Given the modest natuaa of our research design, it is important that such work be continued. Tbere is much we do not understand about the proasses which constrain the academic and career achievement patterns of students From particular racial and ethnic groups, especially those of women of color. Other facets of growing diversity in the student population-returning older learners, single parents, students with disabilities and employed students-will have consequences for the structure,
'
and
of college sience, mthenratics and mginehng of which
d i d y aware, As eduwtional refom in the s i e n w prqrmms, we will continue to need P
fdback from our s h d a t s to be sure that W have wnwtly d i a p a s d the nabre of their problem md are d d r w i n g the right issws. We also ntxd ta l a m the s&lls of evalwtion the better to mdemmd how our duc8tional exptimentrj:am w a r b g . We have coX1apw on our awn a m p a d wiXI, help us with &mm f a ~ l i a rmks, Far our sweats, remrch md evdmtion hold =re &m ai ~hotarlyinbmt: they explore m t b m of g r a pmonali ~onqueace.The mum of their Fubm fives is sha@ by our attihrdes md skills, md they fiwe eveq good r w o n ta keep us hanwt.
1. The P.R.I.S.M. initiative-developed jointly by the Los Marnos hboratxzry Mucation Program, the Univemity of New Mexico and the Sbte of New Mexico Education Offree.
Appendix FIGURE A.1 Disciplines Incfudcd in Each Group of Majors in the C.I.R.P. Data.
Biological Sciences
BioIogy (generdal); Biocherni&q/Biophysics; Botany; Marine (life) f cienee; hnicrobiologylhcterioliogy; zoology .
PkjgScal Sciences
Mronomy; Atmaspherie Science;; Ghemistq; b r t h Science; Marine Science; Physics; Other physical science, Aeronautical or Asfronautical; Civil; Ghernicd; HtmtricaX or Etwtronic; Industrial; Mechaslieal; Other.
Agculrure
Agriculture; hrestry.
I#l~~opy/Polin'cJ Science
Histoxy ; h 1itieal Science.
SoeM Sciences
Anthropology; Economics; Ethnic Studies; Gwgrqhy; Psychology; Social Work; Sociology; Women% Swdies; Orher social sciences.
F l ~ Arts e
Art, Fine and Applied; Music; S p e h ; Architmture/FJrban
Planning.
E~gIigh
Engl bh (language; or Iiteraure).
Other El~ntanitfes
b g u a g e s (excvt English); Philosophy; Thmter or drama; Theology or Religion; Other.
fIed#lt Professions
Nursing; Phtumttcy; Pre-medicine; Pre-dentistry; Pre v&erinaxy; Clinical Therapies (Physical, Occupatiand, Speeeh).
Comp&#@r Science/ Tecknircd
Computer Seienee; Data Proc,esl=ssingor Computer Programming; Communications; Drafcing or Dwign; Mwhanics; Efwcronics; Other technical .
Business
Accounting; Business Administration; Finance; Markding; Management; Secrearid Studies; mher business. Business; Elemenary; Music or Art; Physical Mueation or Recreation; Secondary ; Special.
Other Non-Technical
JournaIGrn; Home bnornics; LibraqlArchival Science; Law Enforcement; Military Science; Other.
mCURE A.2 Profile of Switchers and Non-Swit-chers by Discipline. SwWLtchem
Discipline
TomI
Non-Sw.tehcllrs
N
R
N
96
N
%
Science & Ma&ematics
92
27.5
86
25.7
1'78
53
Engineering
9l
27.2
66
19.7
157
47
FXGURE A.3 Profile o f Switehers and Non-Switehers by Discipfine, Sex and RaeelEthnicity. Number of Participnns at Each S t d y Site
MW
W
PUB f
PUB 2
Science Switchem
23
Science Non-Switchcrs
lnfomaa&
W PUB
EC PUB
3
6
6
Engineering Switehers
W
W
4
WC P f
PRI 2
P 3
12
14
21
2
12
15
12
X2
21
15
12
20
Mite Men
23
19
20
Wite Women
21
17
Totals & Percents far all Institutions
61 18%
Taral
%
14
92
27
12
I7
86
26
22
1
0
91
27
21
22
3
11
I19
48
25
20
23
9
13
1128
S2
47
56
59
66
IS
31
335
200
144%
17%
18%
20%
5%
9%
100%
m G U E A.4 h f i l e of Non-mite: Switchem and Non-Swit~fiersby Discipline and Ra~emthnbiLy.
Appendix B Topics Explored with S.M.E. Switfhers and Non-Switchem in Smi-Shctured hhmiews and Focw Graups Topies were not nwessady explorerf in the order in which they are lisM befow. we solicit& comments mroughout the inemiews with women and mhofity int%.rview~s, on perwivd diffemnces bmm aeir e x p ~ e n m sand those of their whib male countevads.
Tha same topics were eoverd wi& both switchem and non-switchers, with adjustmmts according to the nature of their e x p e ~ e a ~ m . Tapics
*
Major: cument and famer. W e n sAt;ched. W y chose S.M.E. Who and what inDuenced dwision. FsmiIy occupations, interest in science or engineefing, Twchem and other mentors: how interest was foskrd. N&ure of motivation.
* *
Nigh Sehool: type and location, quality and level of prepamtion far cofitlege rnath and science, study s W s lamed, mentors, mcher expectations, grades, level of interest, in scienm/mot,ivaxion for scie;ne&basd earmr, comparison af high school and eotlege; science and mahematics.. Expe~mceof colfege S.M.E. work: C.P.A. (incoming, dlt pattern befardafter switeh)
Class S&, course badloverload, cu~culurnstructure, syllabus conknt, Begrw-compl&ion t h e Financial; issues: parenkYother suppod (grants, scholarships, loans, inkmships), paid work, t h e constraints, sft.essc;s, length of degra
Quality/stytc=s/effwtivenmsof/commitment to -chin& by faculty and T,A.s Labs: facilities, instmction, assessment Grades & assessmmt, weed-out exprienms and thearies, how w d - o u t system was learned and transmits Assessment of own work habits, motivation, study tmhniques Strategies for sumival
*
Academic program wafurttion: structure, lengh, advising and infornation distribution system. Assessment of S.M .E. faculty ss advisors, counselors, mentors, resources for research e;xperienc@: & eamrs. Assessment of academic support and advising for wmen and studenb of cofor.
*
Foreign 6eulty and TA,S: exp~enees,nature of difficulties, rate in switching decisions,
Supgort systems: the impoance of infomal w r s , room-mates) and fomaf (clubs, societies) swppoft,
Speeial pmgmms (e.g. students of eolor, women, R.O.T.G., science and aginmfing dams), Variations h the educatioml experiences (heluding problems) in S.M .E, majors of women and diffemnt mhohty groups, M i t e male studmts' views of the p r e e i v d difficulties or advanhges of women and studenb of eolar in their majors solicited. Culture of S.M.E. discip~es:prestige and ranking of majtcjorskcarmrs; faculty attitudes rind objectives; the ethos of science and enginmring; competition and cooperation; education vs. training. Experiences in non-S .M, E. courses. Comparisons of taching and 1mrning expeniences, perceived differences in the nature of the social sciences and humanities, levelktype of difficulty, assessment and grading praetiees. ExpeI-ienee of switching (self and peers), Factor8 which cantribute to change of major: their relative imperrtance, the process of decision-making , Felings about switching: self, fri.ends, parents, carmr plans, costs and benefits. Thmries about switching-why others switch, Upper-cfassmen: Difficulties of remaining in S.M.E. schoolsldepartmmts: costs and benefiff. Carmr plans: influen~es(prestige, mcmey, intrinsic interest, parentat expmations). Plans for graduate study. Mylwhy not, Changes in carwr plans refated to switching, Consequences of, and feetings, about carwr shiR. Attitudes toward tmching as a carwr. Xntemiewee% advice on improving enrollment and prsistence in S.M.E. majors addressed: to high schools, 3.M .E, schools and depaements, faculty, spwial pragram hadis, edueat-ion policy makers,
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mams, V.C., I5
mow, M,,321)
Tinb, V., 320, 321 Tippins, D., 243 Tobim, SheiEa, 7, 11-12, 50fiz6), 52(n22), 235, 320 Tobin, K., 231, 234 Tmkman, U*,11, 17, 321, 379, 380 Unger, R., 243
Ware, N.C., 12, 236, 320 Mealfey, J., 231 Mite, P.E., 3, 234 M*, J., 3, 234 Widnall, S., 9, 12, 317(n4) WiIEiams, LE., 3f 7 wlson, Robin, 9 Wykoff, John, 14
Subject Index Carneitivenaiss, l l 5 Abaty to do m& a d seimw, 1Q m tmditional in the scim~m,88-92 swn as h i a , 16-17 cant~butionto swiltchkg made by, Tobim on, 16-17 108, t 16 T ~ b m a non, 17 wpbg with, 121 Advi~hg caunbr-pduetive; ejments of, l 19 as it contribto skkhhing, 134, Gurve ingmdhg and, 118-1 19 138-139, 142 fwmm pmmothg, 116 by faculty, 141-142 Z difGculties, 88-82 student n d for, 136 student rwmmendrttions for, 143-144 bgparn (ClW), 1, 2, 15, 19, 24 syskm problems- wi*, 141-14 h e f i c a n Association for the Dmlinhg htemst in the asciencm, 1 Advancement of if;cienm, S and advane4 d e g m enrollment, 4 h e h c a n Association of CoHege Studim, and fmhmen enmhent, 2-3 5) and science gkmcy, 4 hePiean Fmhmen Suweys, 2 and science and maaematics Camegie Founhtian, 9 bching, 2, Choosing science, m&ematiea or Disciphary workhops on undergmduate e n g i n w ~ gas a major exllumtion, S by abgity in high schooI, 69-70 as a "btindkehoice, 71-72 Enginmhg Deans' Council, 2 infiuenw of family members on, E n g h m h g majom 56-61 campafissns with scien~eand innuertee of high school behers on, mathematics studenb, 4849, 61-64 5sinfluence of w f u i a e n t p m p m s on, ecmcems of, 41-49, 215-217, 219-220 5 The Ehogmph, 29 rnabhlist and pragmatic mativations far, 72-77 FinaneLE supgort: rob af altruism in approph* chaiw, and st-udenr employmeat, 2W-212 6M9 und~rgmduaks'pmblems czonwming, mle of fantasy in i n a p p m p ~ a 9-10, 2W208, 214, 21'7-219 choice, 70-71 role of intrinsic k k m t , F;omign faculty and grmctua& W ~ h i n g rob rnodds and mentom, 64 assisbnts, 1-3, 8 rvrk in svvikhing dwisilons, 53-56 and advaned degrws, 4 social and peer passum on, 5&59 and communication issues, 82-85 vafiattions in choice by gender, 5840, mntributian to swikhing of, 86 77-78 Collaborative lwming, 105, 172 Grades, 106-115 influeneg: an svvibhing and and chmting, X 12-1 13 wfsistenw, 172-177
Srrbjecf Index and cont~butionto swi&hing, 109110 and grade shack, 108 and learnhg, 110 and self-WO&, 109 and survival teehniquw, 113-115 of swikhem and wrsistem, 1W107 and wd-out, 112 Graduate tmching assistants, 158 difficulttim in mIe of, 158-160 wlieation of faculty attitudes and practices by, 160 undcrgradwte complain& about, 158-160 value to undergraduates of, 158-160 "Hardness" of science, 10, 88, 99 conceptual difficulties, 191 as crmM by faculty, 15-18 and demands of S.M.E. majocs, 105 differences in faculty and student prceptions of, 10, as image and prestige, 105, 258 as ht&sic, 102-103, 105 as intuition vs. hard work, 101 and lab work, 96-97 and mystificatian of science, 100 as pace and work-load, 92-96 and poor teaching, 100 and squential laming, 102 and student perceptions of, t 01 Haward-Badcliff. study of women in science, 11, 12 Higher Education Resarch Institute, 1, 12-14, 24 'Hi& School and Beyondburvey, 8 High school pqaration, 33-35, 40 and poor study s u s : rasons for and consequences of, 33-35, 82-86 SAT sc-ores as indieators of, 78-79 and under-grqaration: consequences of, 80-84
variations by school, type, location and sex, 81-83 Indepndent Golfega Office, 7 See also Project Kaleidoscope
linstitutianaf comparisons, 6 by foreign faculty and graduak mchhing assisbnh, 84, 85 by rward of S,M.E, enro1lmenlJ persisknce, 6 Instrumental view of ducation causes of* 102 cont~butionto loss of interest in scienw of, 11, 34, 48-49, 1m102 cont~butionto switching cif, 221-223 International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IAEEA), 1-4 International comparisons of children's mthemrrtics and science ackievemenh, 4-5 b b instmctian fitcigties and instruments, 96-97 b m h g expriences and conceptual grasp, 88-92 their contdbutian to switching, 88-89 h g t h of S.N.E. mjors, 214 and difficulties for enginwhg mstjars, 215-21? and difficulties for science and m&ematics majors, 217-218 and difficulties for persisknce, 2, 214215
and fmiincial difficulties, 218, 219 relatd to coping strategies, 220 studmt rmmmendations for change, 219-220 Loss of inlemst in the sciences, 1-2, 179-2 82 causes of, 5-6, t "7-182 Men in S,N.E, majors and consquences of male culture, 258 gender& socialintion of, 258 rasons for switching conpard with women switchers" 235 swikhing and pmis&nce rates of, 3, f l , 19-24 See a h Women in S.M,E. Majors
42 7
Subject l&
Ntslional Academy of Seienw, 2, 5 National Advisov Gmup, Sigma Xi, The Seientifie Research Soei&y, 5-45 National Association of SWte Universities and Land Grant Colleges, 5, 7 Naional. longitudinal suwey , 8 National Rmamh Council, Commiw on Women in Science and E n g h w h g , Sf)(nlii) National Rmmrch Counel, National Commim on Sciencc: mucation Standtzrds and AssclssmenEs, 4 National Science hundation, 2 4 , 7, 501n4, nS) Neal Reprt, 5 Oberlin Group, 6 Office of Scientificzmd E n g i n a h g Personnel, 6, 5Q(n4) Office of Technobgy Assessment, 4-6, 501~4) Pace and workload as part of "W&-out," 92-96 and switching, 32, 92-93 Pdagogy in S.M.E., 66 and contribution to switching, X46 and "good" tmchinng, 148-149 and "saent" Wching, 154 Persistence, 393-394 and ability, 3-5 definition of, 11, 14 extentltiming of, 3-5, 37 and financial problems, 9, 32 prdictions of, 6 , 8-16 rates and patterns by sex, 3, 9, 1 1 , 19-24 r;ttc=s by race and ethnici~,3, 12 and S.M ,E. "pipefine" : student losses, l , 8, 11-12, 15-24 PRISM, 39Vnf) "Problem iceberg," "-35, 98 h o ~ e c tKaleidascape, 7 "Push and pull" pmeess, 31, 98, 392-393
Raee and hnieity rwnritment into sciences by, 10 rates of switching an6 persistence by, 3, 9, 12-13 and mnredial progmms, 89
Science a d rnaaentatics undergraduates ~3rnpaTi~ons wi& engineefing undergrgduates, 41-49, 99 oonGems of, 217 Shortfatl p d i e t d in seiatifrc and hhnicaf personnel, 7 3.M ,E,att~tion role of foreign faculty and teaching assistants in, S and studies of student experience, 8-13 theofies of, 13, 394 and under-prepration in high schaol, 9, 79-84 and women, 3, 8-1l , 19-24 S.M.E. c a m r choice mntfibution to switching of, 183-186 and factors discouraging mching carwrs, 197-201, 395 and job availability, 201-204 of S.M.E.teaching, 19&200 and expwM rwards* 200-201, 2W, 205
and work and liifestyle preferences, 191-195 "good compromise" in, 194-197 h mslhematies, 186-187 and perceivd personality traits, 188-190 and success stmtegim, 204 S.M.E. faculty agitudw towards taching , 146 m a g ~ g yof, 5, 7, 32-36, 39, 146148 taehing defmd as "good" by student^, 148-149 student problems with, 32-49, 146158 student critiques of taching, 151-157
facbnr influencing apphtions to, 204, 2-22? S.M.E. mfom inihGvm md gmposats for chrmp, 6, 394-395 in @agogy and cukeulum, 182 h j w t hleidascope, 7
S.M.E. k k h i n g md
and of oher majom, 107 and eontnbutions of foreign fa~ultyand gradmb b c h h g asskmts to, 158, 163-165 dofmitian of, 3, 11, 14 defmd as U ~ m p n a & ,7:, n 10, 32-34, 178, 391-393
into other S.M.E. mjam, 2, 13-22 and I a m b 8 expficnw, 5 , 11-13, 88-89 and Een* and pace of S.M.E. majorar, 214221 and lass of hi& abifity studenb, 3, l 1-13, 3540, 392-393 and loss of h k m t in sciences, 32, 3 8 4 , In-182 patkms by ma*r, 15-19, 4T49 patkms by sex, 19-24 Wagogy and its conthbution to, 146 mks of, 24, 15-23 and mmdiaf program, 189 Suwey of doct;oraI mipienb, 4 Studm& of wlor in S.M.E. nn~jars community ribligaGons of, 337-340 efficacy of advisory pmgmms for, 380-382 enmflmsnt, loss and graduation of, 3, 9, 12-13, 319-322 experience of prejudice or dischination by, 365-376 explanations; for hi%jleragfition m b of, SW321
famify and oommunity role in edu~ationafand c a m r choiees of, 325-327, 3 w 3 4 6 FmaneiaI and famify mspansibilitiw of, 341-3.44, 387 fmdhgs relaw to bfack warmm, 264, 2M, 320-321, 337, 339-343, 346, 349-354 impottanee of awdcmie supprt pmgmms for, 376-380 k p ~ c xof: beher-lr;amer mhtionship to, 334336 llege p~pamtionof, 327-325) issua of A s h n - h e ~ c a nstudeinh, 32G323, 330, 333-334, 337, 3 W 3 4 , 352354, 356358, 363, 372-374, 378, 380 issues of iblaek students, 325, 32% 329, 330-332, 335-337, 340344, 349352, 354362, 371372 issues of H i ~ p n i estudents, 320, 322, 325-326, 334, 337, 341-343, 347-348, 355, 371, 372 is;su.es of native Amchean students, 322, 337-339, 341, 347348, 349 peer group effwb an pmislenec: of, 34-354 and rwmns for switehing eompard with whik $.M.E, swit~hers', 322-324, 343-34.1 rwmitment and Heation of, 319, 325, 383-385, 388-390 role of isolation in switehing of, 362-3s self-bhme andlor low selfeanfidence among, 324, 328-329, 36-34?, 3ti7, 388 significmce of ~ufturaivalues for attfition among, 330-334, 3-49, 388 s t e m t y p and their consequwees far, 356362 variations by race llnd dhnieity , 321322, 325-327, 337-358
va~ationsby social cIms among, 330-338, 339-340, 342, 373-375, 386 Study sample oorngositi~nof, 2628, 32-33 diseipka included in, 25 m&prfomanm level of, 25, 36, 3740 gtudy sites for, S 2 8
Tmk F o m on the Enghmhg Studfiphe, 2 See a&@Enghmhg Dean8Yaunc2 Tacfihg and assessment sbn&ds, 6 Unbergradwte lmnning
g w d m~hhgdefmd in mms of, 148-149, 2W265 students as cansumem, 158 mview of pmblmar, 5-7 for women, 9, 11-13 with mi&tions, 162-163 with eudcutum, 92-95 with lab expelimm, 9697 with paw and wor.kIoad, 32, 92-95 vvith hching mdods, 5-7, 3240, 152-157 U.S. Bumu of the &sus, 2 U .S. D q a m m t of Wumtion, 3 U .S. economic cammitivenesss eonwms about, 6 Wd-out sysm, 6-8, l l , 122-133 and elhakg, 112-113 119-120 and cann~%ivmms, and cuwe gmdhg, 111, 126 ils effwb on lmnxin~mbwt,130 as an htentionaf institutioml stmbgy, 128, 394 and pmfasionat awms, 128 and foss of good students, 131 and foss of high ability studmb, 131 firnetions of, 127-129 and grades, l 12 gelation vs. eduwtional goab, 128, 394 sefectivity vs. openentry ta higher
eduwian, 112, 394 studmt awamws of, 123-124 student EBIemtion of, 125 mdition of, 122 Women in S,M.E?, majofs and - m m aaitudes Wwad ma*ge, famay and work, 2W294 mta of, 2-3, aMtion md ~ r n h m w 29-24 md the "chilXy eh&@," 9, 284290 dwbhg hbmt in mehing among, 1-2, SO eEm& of incrmd numbem of, 308-310 explanations for difficulrtiw as undergradwm of, 255-263, 267-2"7, 313-315 explanations for under-qwent-lttion of, 236236 faculty role in pmistmee of, 272, 301-302, 303-307, 31&313 fsm2y infiuenw on, 277-283 snd gender saehbtion of, 256, 258, 259, 265-268, 276-283 impmace of meher-1-mer mlationship fir, 2 6 2 7 3 laek of explanations for the dbmmforls: of, 256258 loss of self-esemlwnfidence of, 11, 259, 268-274 p m i g k n stmtegiw ~ -S& 29.lf-298 of, 231-232, 240-24t wnritmmt of, 10-11, 283 mmns for s*khing w m g a d with mlr:switehers" 2238 mgonae to "challengen and "provingn of, %l-263 mgonse to the comwitive atmosphere by, 263-2X16 respanse to gender4 hquities by, 256, 259-265, 285-286, 293-294%3 f 5 suppr2.sysms of, 275 use of role mdels and mentors by, 302-308
About the Book and Authors This intriguing book explores the reasons that lead undergaduates of hove-average ability to switch from science, mathematics, and engineef;ingmajors into nonscience majors. Based on a three-year, seven-campus study, the volume t&es up the ongoing national debate about the quality of undergraduate education in these fields, offering explanations for net lasses of students to non-science ma~ors. Data show that approximately 40 percent of undergraduate students leave engineering programs, 50 percent leave the physical and biological sciences, and 60 percent leave mathematics. Concern about this was& of talent is heightened because these losses occur among the most highly qualifiedi college entrants and are disproportionatelygreater among women and students of colar, despite a serious nationat ef'Eort to improve their recmitment and retention. The authors-findings, culled from over (iQ0hours of ethographie interviews zlnd focus group discussions with undergraduates, explain the intended and uplintended consequences of same traditional teaching practices and attitudes. Taking about Leavi~gis richly illustrated with students%ceaunts of their own experiences in the sciences, This is a fmdmark study-an essential source book for all those concerned with changing the ways that we teach science, mathematics, and engineering education, and with opening these fielids to a more dherse student body.
Elaine Seymour and Nancy M. Hewitt are sociologists at the Bureau of Sociological Research, the University of Colorado at Boulder.
